Superintendent presents midyear "vision cards," flags assessment limits amid high virtual enrollment
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Summary
The superintendent gave a midyear update to the Richfield School Board on Feb. 2 covering district vision cards, measured gains on FastBridge assessments, demographic gaps, lower assessment completion due to virtual attendance, a temporary virtual program rollout and plans for a second version.
At the Feb. 2 meeting the superintendent presented the district’s midyear update using five strategic "vision cards"—academics, activities, business/operations, climate and culture, and communications/marketing—and walked the board through recent data, program actions and implementation risks.
The presentation highlighted assessment and enrollment measures the district monitors publicly. The superintendent reported gains on FastBridge measures this winter (examples cited: CBM reading and a reading assessment showing increases versus the prior year), and noted that some proficiency numbers rose substantially in the winter window. At the same time the superintendent warned that roughly 20% of students were enrolled virtually and that online assessment completion and validity are lower: the district completed about 82% of winter assessments, leaving about 18% missing, a gap the superintendent said could skew comparisons and merits caution when interpreting midyear scores.
The update also covered college-credit course participation (the superintendent said the district’s college-credit enrollment had decreased slightly from the plan baseline), and called attention to persistent equity gaps by demographic group. On operations, the district reported growth in BIPOC staff hires (moving into the twenties), relatively flat energy performance and mixed meal-participation trends (the superintendent cited a prior increase in lunch participation but also noted a decline of about 560 lunches per day since the recent surge, attributable in part to roughly 800 students not attending in person). Climate indicators showed a long-term decline in office referrals from pre-pandemic spikes (examples noted: 729 referrals in a pre-pandemic semester down to 241 in a later semester) and small increases in staff dedicated to social-emotional learning.
Board members pressed for clarifications about how conferences and engagement are counted (the superintendent said combined conference sessions count a student once), asked for more longitudinal metrics for students who recently arrived in the U.S., and requested follow-up detail about college-in-the-schools partnerships; the superintendent said University of Minnesota decisions sometimes limit which CIS courses the district can offer and pledged to report back.
The superintendent also described near-term operational actions: a temporary virtual program running through Feb. 13 with a more robust "version 2" planned (more live instruction and clearer enrollment logistics), ongoing REDACT training and an MOU negotiation with an organization labelled Education Richfield for phase two of a program. The district noted practical barriers to remote participation—device distribution and hotspots are in progress, with some delays—and cited significant community assistance (food and blankets donated by local businesses) helping families while logistics continue.
The superintendent said the board’s formal evaluation process will include student-achievement components and process goals, and that the superintendent’s evaluation period will conclude in late spring with a closed session to finalize the assessment. The board will receive a further data update in June and additional detail on the virtual program at the next meeting.
