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District outlines High Reliability Schools rollout; principals highlight safety and collaborative teams
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Summary
Dr. John Newport briefed the board on the district’s High Reliability Schools framework; West Vigo principal Ryan Easton highlighted indicator 1.1 (staff perception of safety/support/order), and Wabash principal Haley Ringgold described implementation of weekly PLCs and early assessment gains.
The Vigo County School Corp. provided a curriculum update on its use of the High Reliability Schools (HRS) framework, a five‑level model adapted from research by Robert Marzano that the district is using to standardize practices across schools.
Dr. John Newport (presenter) said HRS uses leading and lagging indicators to measure school practices and outcomes and introduced the district schools working toward Level 1 certification. West Vigo principal Ryan Easton focused on leading indicator 1.1 — faculty and staff perception that the school environment is safe, supportive and orderly — and described monthly and weekly safety drills, decision matrices, and routines that he said create consistency across classrooms.
"So I'm gonna focus on 1.1 tonight, which is the perception that teachers and staff have that we're a safe place," Easton said, adding that drills and routine expectations help staff respond without being reactionary.
Haley Ringgold, Wabash Elementary principal, and her colleagues presented indicator 1.4 on collaborative teams and described a rolling implementation of weekly professional learning community (PLC) meetings across grade levels. Ringgold and team members summarized how they broke standards into focused targets, used pre‑ and post‑assessments, grouped students for targeted instruction and reported gains on post assessments.
Board members asked about districtwide alignment and the greatest challenge to implementation; presenters said curriculum alignment teams and finding common collaborative time for teachers are the main constraints. The board was told these efforts are ongoing and intended as multi‑year work.
There was no formal action required; the presentation closed with an offer from the administration to hold further conversations with the board.
