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Des Moines school board hears 'Goal Three' update; administration and coach set March target to finalize measures
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Roberts described 2024–25 as a planning 'year zero' for Goal Three (postsecondary success). The board and governance coach debated whether the third goal is a formal SMART goal or an intention; trustees and staff agreed to target March 1 to fill in measurable interims so the district can monitor progress and align the 2025–26 budget.
Des Moines Independent Comm School District Superintendent Dr. Roberts told the board on Aug. 13 that the district will treat the 2024–25 school year as a planning or "year zero" to build systems to measure a newly framed Goal Three on postsecondary success. "We are 100% staffed with our district and school leaders," Dr. Roberts said, adding the district is at "about a 99% plus of all of our certified positions and 98% of our classified positions." He said staff have prepared a Gantt chart of milestones and will present a more detailed update in September.
The board's governance coach, AJ Crable, and multiple trustees pressed over whether Goal Three is already an adopted, measurable SMART goal or still an intention that lacks interims the board can monitor. Crable told the board it had "adopted an intention for a third goal" but, by his reading of the evaluation instrument, had not yet adopted a third goal that met SMART criteria because measurable interims were not in place. A trustee countered that the board had voted on Goal Three and allocated resources to it in budget discussions; Dr. Roberts and board members said they intend to continue operational work and that the September presentation will add more detail.
After discussion about the timing needed to populate measurable interims and to align resource planning for the 2025–26 budget, board members and staff agreed to a target: complete the measurable interims for Goal Three by March 1 (the board and administration described that date in the meeting as a planning placeholder to allow for budget-season alignment). The superintendent characterized the March timeline as feasible, with most specificity expected by January and fuller completion by March–April, "in the spirit of under-promising and over-delivering." Crable warned that without measurable interims the board cannot effectively monitor the goal: "You have adopted an intention for a third goal but the fact that it still has x's and y's in it ... suggests that no, you do not yet have a third goal," he told trustees.
Why it matters: Goal Three is intended to connect district work to postsecondary enrollment, enlistment and employment outcomes. Trustees said adopting measurable interims is necessary for public accountability and to enable the board to track progress and align spending during the district's budget calendar.
Votes at a glance: During the Aug. 13 meeting the board approved the meeting agenda, approved the consent items and approved Resolution F1 (HR25 A6). The meeting audio records motions and seconds for those items; the transcript records the motions and announces the approvals, but does not provide a clear, unambiguous roll-call tally for each vote in the text record.
