Superintendent outlines district improvement plan: central office to support instructional leadership

Superintendent Dr. Wenzel told the board the district’s draft improvement plan rests on three central ideas: reorganizing central office to better support principals as instructional leaders, building principal leadership capacity, and strengthening teacher collaboration through PLCs.

"The 3 big rocks are that the central office shifts to be able to help principals become stronger instructional leaders," Dr. Wenzel said, describing monthly walkthroughs with central office staff and a plan for principals to set goals against the Association of Washington Principals framework. He said year‑one of a three‑year PLCs at Work partnership will focus on leadership teams identifying essential standards in math and language arts and embedding practices over years two and three.

Dr. Wenzel said the draft will come back to the board in October along with school improvement plans and that board evaluation of the superintendent should connect to progress on these improvement goals. Board members asked about how principals will carve time for classroom visits and whether the district’s scheduling will allow more principal instructional time; the superintendent said the intent is explicit scheduling and 1:1 follow-up with principals.