Newport‑Mesa board reviews draft strategic vision, students urge ‘Please see me’

The Newport‑Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees reviewed a draft strategic vision and ‘‘portrait of a graduate’’ at a public study session, heard consultants and student representatives describe broad community input, and directed staff to translate the vision into measurable actions.

Consultants from F3 and district staff opened the presentation by describing a year‑long engagement that included two full community sessions and roughly 150 participants representing families, staff and city partners. Imani Jones, who worked on student engagement, told trustees a recurring student theme was: "Please see me, know me," and urged that the vision center student recognition and belonging.

The consultants emphasized the document is a high‑level vision, not an action plan, and that staff will develop the specific strategic actions if the board adopts the vision. They summarized core themes gathered from committees and the public: rigorous, consistent course offerings across schools; life and digital literacy; allocating resources based on student need ("equal is inequitable"); and building school identities that foster pride.

Staff outlined examples of potential actions tied to those priorities. Dr. Suhr described work to strengthen professional learning teams (PLTs), proposing a weekly 75‑minute PLT structure focused on shared data and collaborative planning. Staff said PLTs would use regular data cycles to identify growth and share practices across sites. Sara and Kurt described a proposed learning center model at Costa Mesa to provide inclusive academic support for general‑education and special‑education students and track outcomes.

On resources and transparency, presenters described two responses to community concern about fundraising disparities between sites: (1) exploring a districtwide foundation to offset inequities while preserving existing site foundations, and (2) creating public dashboards so families and communities can see project status, priorities and spending for facilities and safety.

Trustees focused much of their discussion on the document’s opening wording and on implementation details. Several trustees said the first two paragraphs read as "fluff" and urged stronger, more concrete language that balances empathy and belonging with academic rigor and clear adult‑and system‑level commitments. Trustee Weigand suggested emphasizing "upstanders" and stronger language such as "focused and strong," while others recommended explicitly naming age‑appropriate technology use and adding early‑childhood expectations.

Trustees also pressed for practical timelines and measurable indicators. In response, staff said dashboards are attainable within a year and that next year will be used to co‑develop strategic actions and measurement plans tied to the board’s chosen vision. On assessment of belonging, staff identified existing tools (for example, the California Healthy Kids survey and Search Institute instruments) and said additional measures and technological tools could supplement them.

The board concluded with a request that the F3 team and staff return with revised preamble wording options and a proposed timeline for developing strategic actions and dashboards. Trustees directed that the district report progress publicly and review strategic actions annually.

The board had earlier adopted the meeting agenda by unanimous roll call vote before the presentation.