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Caldwell School Board Retreated to sharpen vision, prioritize attendance and teacher retention
Summary
At its July 28 retreat the Caldwell School District board spent a day on vision-setting with an ISBA workshop, agreeing to focus on measurable goals — improved attendance, broader postsecondary planning and teacher retention — while acknowledging uncertainty from federal funding and volatile community debate.
The Caldwell School District Board of Trustees spent July 28 in a daylong retreat aimed at clarifying the board’s vision for the coming year and setting measurable targets for student attendance, academic rigor and teacher retention.
Phil Gore of the Idaho School Boards Association led a facilitated workshop that emphasized narrow, repeatable goals and regular monitoring. "Everything rises and falls on vision," Gore told trustees, urging the board to convert high-level goals into specific, measurable actions.
The workshop opened with a formal roll call and a unanimous vote to approve the retreat agenda. Trustees then described their top hopes — student safety, systemwide consistency beyond "pockets of excellence," stronger community communications and higher rates of postsecondary planning and scholarships. Concerns clustered around social-media volatility, disinformation and the strain of unfunded mandates on staff morale.
Board members debated how to define success for the 2025–26 school year. Suggestions included measurable improvements in attendance, a jump in the percentage of seniors completing FAFSA or similar financial-aid applications, increased scholarship distribution across more students and a smaller number of new teacher hires through higher retention. "If the board is wildly successful, what might others say next July?" Gore asked, prompting trustees to consider objective measures they could review midyear and at year-end.
Superintendent Dr. French and CFO Cheryl Sanderson briefed trustees on parallel planning: the district has drafted a budget assuming federal allocations similar to last year’s levels but warned of partial or delayed notices from the state. That fiscal uncertainty, leaders said, strengthens the case for tight, monitorable goals that remain feasible under shifting revenues.
The board set a direction to return to regular data monitoring — attendance, graduation and postsecondary indicators — and asked staff to return with concrete metrics that could be used as superintendent-evaluation goals and public progress checkpoints.
The retreat concluded with staff and student presentations scheduled later in the day and an executive session for personnel matters. Trustees said they plan to follow the retreat’s recommendations into more focused board agendas this fall.
