MMSD board hears strategic-partnerships update; Improve Your Tomorrow leaders report early gains
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Summary
The Madison Metropolitan School District board reviewed an inventory of 250+ community partners and heard Improve Your Tomorrow describe mentoring results, while trustees pressed staff on evaluation methods, funding and contract-versus-partner distinctions. A high-intensity MOA will return to the board later this spring.
The Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education on April 6 heard an update on the district's strategic partnerships, including a detailed presentation from Improve Your Tomorrow Wisconsin (IYT) about a new mentoring pilot and early outcomes.
Why it matters: District staff said partnerships now touch all 52 school sites and that the board will see formal MOAs for high-intensity partnerships. Trustees pressed presenters on how the district will measure impact and prioritize limited funds as it grows partner relationships.
Sonia Spencer, lead for the district's Strategic Partnerships office, summarized a recent inventory and survey of partners and volunteers, saying MMSD now catalogues more than 250 partners and a volunteer pool of roughly 5,000. She reminded the board that, under board policy 75-44, partnerships that exceed a $60,000 threshold require board notification or approval.
Cindy Green, who presented the district's high-intensity partnership roster, highlighted multi-year MOAs including AVID Tops (in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County), pre-college work with the University of Wisconsin'Madison, social-emotional groups (FACE), expanded mental-health sessions with Children's Hospital Wisconsin, and early college academies. Green cited program metrics such as AVID middle-school enrollment (about 604 students to date), improvement in attendance and GPA trends, and a 99% on-time graduation rate historically reported for AVID participants.
Corby White, who identified himself as executive director of Improve Your Tomorrow Wisconsin, described a 12-year mentoring model that launched in the district on Oct. 13, 2025. He said IYT targets young men of color (but does not exclude others) and is focusing locally on students with GPAs at or below 2.0. "By the time we get done with you, you're not only gonna go to college, but you're gonna graduate," White said. He added that IYT is operating in several sites in MMSD and that, nationally, the organization serves about 7,500 participants across six states.
Aaron Broadwater, introduced as the program director, described IYT's three-year approach: building rapport in year one, improving behavior and attendance in year two, and driving academic gains in year three. Broadwater said the program uses a school-level success team that includes principals, teachers and counselors and that IYT tracks assignments, celebrations and summative dates to prioritize tutoring support.
White also said IYT recently received a violence-prevention grant and has corporate partners including American Family and Epic Health Systems; he told the board Madison College has agreed to guaranteed admission for students who complete the program. "When I mentioned this to the brothers at Verona, you should have seen their eyes light up," he said.
Board members asked repeated questions about oversight and measurement. Board member Mosner Faltham asked, "What's the difference between a partner and a contractor?" Staff replied that contracts are legal obligations while MOAs define mutual goals, accountability and reciprocal expectations, and that the district is developing KPIs and a public dashboard to track active partnerships and the percentage of formal partnerships that meet end-of-year goals.
Vice President Pearson and others pressed staff on funding and sustainability, noting previous district investments. IYT representatives confirmed past MMSD investment (the presentation cited $113,625 last year) and described joint grant-seeking and other partner funding as part of their sustainability plan.
What happens next: Staff said AVID Tops will receive a near-term evaluation before the next MOA comes to the board and that the district will return to the board later this spring with the high-intensity partnership MOA referenced in the presentation.
Key quote: "Partnerships and community-based relations are critical to our district being successful," Cindy Green said, adding that the district will continue a gap analysis to align partner capacity to school needs.
The board did not take formal votes on partnerships at the meeting.
