Superintendent and staff report mixed progress on strategic priorities; board presses for curriculum alignment and supports for students with disabilities

District staff updated the board on strategic‑plan progress, student outcomes and targeted interventions, emphasizing both areas of progress and persistent equity gaps.

Staff walked the board through the strategic‑plan dashboard showing five priorities and a color‑coded status of key strategic actions. Two actions were listed as paused and two as strategically abandoned because of funding constraints. The presentation also included school and subgroup performance indicators used for state designations (ATSI/TSI) and noted that Northside Elementary exited ATSI status after more than six years of targeted work.

On safety and attendance, staff said the district’s unique referral rate and suspension numbers are comparatively low in a national context the presentation cited (staff referenced a 6 percent district referral figure versus a 33 percent national benchmark cited from a study), while noting increases and decreases across grade bands. Elementary satisfactory attendance improved by about nine percentage points, middle school by about five; high‑school attendance metrics showed mixed movement. The district reported that students with disabilities account for roughly 39 percent of discipline referrals while comprising about 12 percent of enrollment, and that Black males account for about 22 percent of unique referrals — disparities staff said they will continue to address through professional learning, MTSS interventions and targeted supports.

Instructional staff highlighted K–3 reading supports and interventions, including district standard treatment protocols emphasizing phonemic awareness and phonics, and tutoring partnerships with the Public School Foundation/Hill Center and Ignite Reading Company for Title I schools. Staff reported early gains in reading foundational skills and described plans to move from decoding supports to comprehension and acceleration work in later grades.

Multilingual learner staff described a 62 percent increase in Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) since 2016–17 and reported positive outcomes from AVID Excel pilots at middle schools intended to accelerate language acquisition and family engagement.

Board members pressed for a clearer key that defines what constitutes a discipline referral, asked for environmental assessments to accompany site projects, and urged curriculum alignment — including adopting consistent district curricula and committing to multi‑year focus areas so teachers and principals have stable expectations. The superintendent and staff said curriculum adoptions, targeted investments and clearer administrative/principal alignment (starting planning earlier in the summer) are part of the plan for accelerating learning and addressing disproportionality.

Staff said they will return with school improvement plans and implementation timelines for AVID, MTSS and PLC rollouts and provide clearer materials and data keys for board review.