Superintendent outlines district improvement plan: 'rowing together' and a three‑year PLC partnership

Superintendent Dr. Wenzel told the board the district's draft improvement plan centers on three research‑based priorities: shifting central office to better support principals as instructional leaders, strengthening principal leadership and capacity, and building teacher collaboration through effective PLC (professional learning community) work.

"We have a theme which is rowing together," Dr. Wenzel said, describing an organizing metaphor for alignment across central office, principals and teachers. He outlined a three‑year partnership with PLCs at Work in which year 1 focuses on leadership team work and subsequently expands to teacher teams, with the goal of embedding common practices to improve instruction and student outcomes.

Dr. Wenzel said the district has identified five goals for the year — including Evergreen Elementary completion and goals tied to mathematics, English language arts, attendance and graduation — and that the district used a cohort of eight demographically similar districts (including Enumclaw) to set realistic, data‑grounded targets. He proposed that the superintendent evaluation at the October retreat be explicitly linked to progress on these improvement priorities.