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Superintendent outlines "District of Excellence" plan, proposes rubrics and implementation teams
Summary
Superintendent Manares presented a multi-month initiative built from staff and community input proposing 12 belief statements across three pillars and an implementation plan featuring rubrics, champions and school-level engagement to shift district culture over several years.
Orange Unified Superintendent Dr. Manares presented an informational "District of Excellence" initiative to the board on June 18, describing a multi-year plan to codify shared beliefs, values and behaviors across the district and to operationalize them with rubrics and implementation teams.
Manares said the proposal springs from more than 800 staff and stakeholder inputs gathered since last summer and distilled into 12 belief statements under three pillars: culture and attitude; relationships and feelings; and actions and systems. She said the effort is intended to be districtwide rather than a single program and emphasized collective adult practice as the engine for student outcomes.
The superintendent proposed forming an implementation team with district and school-level representatives, parents and students to co-develop a rubric for self-evaluation and to appoint 12 "champions" to lead projects tied to each belief statement. Manares said the district plans an initial rubric and baseline data by December, with champion projects and broader rollout in the following school year.
Trustees asked how parents and nontraditional voices would be included, how the rubric would be developed and how progress would be communicated. Manares replied the implementation team would include representatives from formal groups (PTA, CSEA, union leadership), parents and students, that communications would be amplified by school-based ambassadors and that the board would receive annual updates.
Board members broadly praised the listening and participatory process that produced the draft beliefs and encouraged staff to embed the work into existing school practices such as PBIS and student advisory councils. No formal action was taken; the item was presented for feedback and scheduled for further refinement and future adoption.
