Woodland Park board narrows mission text, adds enrollment priority and asks staff to finish KPIs

At a lengthy May work session, Woodland Park School District RE-2 board members and staff refined a draft three-year strategic plan and set next steps for staff implementation and community presentation.

Board participants reviewed and debated mission and vision wording, focusing on whether to expand the vision's language to add an elementary/"essential learning" element and phrases such as "spark curiosity" or "explore interests." Multiple members favored wording that preserves a concise tagline while inserting a short clause to capture early-learning foundations: options discussed included "a strong foundation to explore interests and discover career pathways" and variants that add "spark curiosity" or "build skills." The board asked staff to refine phrasing and recommended keeping mission/vision concise for public presentation.

On the planning framework, members agreed a three-part sequencing remains useful to explain priorities and timing, and favored replacing "grow" with a more positively framed third step. After discussion they settled on language along the lines of "stabilize, strengthen, thrive" to convey both realistic near-term work and a forward-looking goal.

A central outcome of the session was elevating Enrollment into its own priority area. Board members agreed enrollment requires a distinct goal set (retention plus growth) and targeted initiatives (research into available student population, realtor outreach, community partnerships). Staff was asked to develop specific KPIs and a phased approach (stabilize then grow) to present at upcoming leadership sessions.

On operational priorities, board and staff debated whether "sustainable funding" should be a standalone goal or a key initiative under the operational integrity/budget pillar. Several members recommended keeping financial-sustainability efforts as a major key initiative while reserving the right to list it as a board-specific annual goal in August if warranted.

Safety and behavioral supports were a major thread. Staff reported the district lost grant-funded positions that previously supported a crisis-response team; rebuilding that capacity will take multiple years and will require grant-seeking and phased hires. The board endorsed the goal language to "rebuild and sustain a district-wide crisis response team and behavioral support infrastructure," while noting timing depends on funding and staff capacity.

A community member offered to convene a limited-access safety task force (including law enforcement and a grant writer) to conduct campus risk assessments and draft protection plans. Board members asked staff to vet the proposal with district legal counsel, to require nondisclosure protections for vulnerability details and to weigh alternatives (paid vendors vs. volunteer-supported assessments).

On accountability, the group agreed the board should approve mission/vision/values and goals at the next public meeting and then hand off key-initiative development and KPI-setting to staff. Staff will return with recommended KPIs, reporting cadences and a plan to populate a public dashboard; the timeline discussed included leadership work in June and a fuller adoption/approval after staff presents initiatives and measurement proposals in late summer.