Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Strategic Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District 214 superintendent reports attendance gains, outlines curriculum and SEL priorities
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Ro presented a midyear strategic-plan update Jan. 22, highlighting an instructional-vision effort, curriculum-alignment work across six high schools, and a nearly one-percentage-point rise in average daily attendance—about 5,000 more class periods attended—alongside plans for RULER SEL training and a 'trusted adult' initiative.
Superintendent Dr. Ro told the Township High School District 214 board on Jan. 22 that the district’s year-one strategic plan is moving from design into implementation, with work focused on four goals: instructional vision, student belonging, operational efficiency and innovation. He said administrators have drafted an instructional vision and a "portrait of an educator" to guide hiring and professional learning and that the district will institute a multi-year curriculum review cycle to align standards, assessments and materials across the district’s six comprehensive high schools.
Dr. Ro pointed to attendance improvements as an early measurable result of the strategy. He said average daily attendance increased by just under one percentage point in the first semester compared with the prior year — a shift he characterized as modest on a chart but meaningful in practice, equating to roughly "5,000 more class periods attended." Board members pressed for school-level breakdowns to identify where gains were concentrated (for example, among freshmen or seniors); administrators said building attendance teams meet regularly and that more granular data can be shared with the board.
On student supports, Dr. Ro described implementation of a "Trusted Adult" feature in Infinite Campus to help students identify a go-to staff member and said the district is rolling out RULER, Yale’s social-emotional learning program, starting in freshman PE classes and related student-services teams. He said PE teachers are being trained now and the board workshop will include a two-hour RULER primer so trustees understand the language and expectations.
The superintendent also said the district is piloting refreshed classroom furniture and has begun conversations about responsible artificial-intelligence use in classrooms, with instructional-technology staff developing guardrails for professional learning. Dr. Hubard and other instructional leaders were cited as leading alignment work. Dr. Ro told the board these are "messy," foundational steps but said he is confident those systems will produce more consistent instruction and better transitions for students.
The board recommended publishing clearer milestone reporting (a strategic-plan dashboard) and asked administrators to show where incremental percentage gains translate into tangible outcomes for students. Dr. Ro agreed to investigate dashboard options and return with a proposal.
