001Okay, we're going to get started. It's 5:06. At this time, I'll call the order of the meeting of the board of trustes on April 9th, 2026. Um, we do have a workshop tonight on strategic plan development that Dr. Smith will help lead us through. I am going to ask that we try to wrap up and not go past 6:30. We have a 7:30 start tonight. We have a jam-packed closed agenda and make sure that we are keeping kids I will be fast in my part and I know that the goal in all this dialogue. So, we're going to do our best to work through a couple of things to get rolling and get some context and then really get into the meat of this and making sure that your voices are heard on some things.
002So, uh wanted to start purpose of this. We're going to talk a little bit about strategic plan development alignment with the TSBI Texas Board Institute. You all remember this? Five of you have been through it. A couple of you haven't been through it yet, but through the Ultima Center um and we've been through it in the last couple of years. So, we'll use that as a framework, discuss some strategic objectives and gain uh input from the board on next steps. Our agenda for tonight, we'll talk a little bit about process and actions uh according to the transformational governance framework. So the the framework that those have been through the training know and know well um and their model that they have for goals, priorities and plans and then talk about the actions taken for Arlington
003ISD get into the meat of the strategic objectives that's what was presented to you at the last meeting so have good discussion about all that talk about the annual plans just a little bit and then really get into what the board needs from a trustee perspective for completion of this. So, those of you that remember uh this framework, it's in the blue book that I gave you as well. The blue book was the Don McAdam book, McAdam's book. And just a reminder, Holsworth was gifted uh all of that information in the work that RSS had been doing for a number of years throughout the state of Texas regarding uh school district transformation and the role of governance in that. And you can see the way that framework works. This diagram is used in the training
004often and tonight we're going to hone in on the section is the goals, priorities, and plans that we've been through on a regular basis with that. One of the slides that they use and I want to give a shout out to maybe some of them that you all know. His name is Marcelo Kabasos and um he sent me the slides that they use for the training. So I have a few of those embedded in this just to remind people that have been through it and for those of you that haven't been through it, they give you a little context. One of the things they talk about in the goals uh section of the training is there are a lot of pieces of setting direction in a school district. There's missions, there's visions, there's core beliefs,
005there's strategic plans, there's goals, and sometimes you don't know where all that stuff belongs. And part of their training is identifying what those things are and where they go. And so they break them up into these areas. mission, core beliefs and commitments, theory of change, uh and then strategic plan, goals and priorities. And they talk about specific roles and those roles are clear in their training. The board develops with my input or the superintendent's input and mission, core beliefs, and the theory of change. The superintendent creates and recommends the strategic plan, the goals, priorities, and plans that go with all of this. And those are clear roles that they talk about through that training. We're going to start by talking about where we are and what we've been doing over a number of years because
006I think maybe we haven't reminded everyone or told the story well enough that you've actually been working on this for two years starting in April of 2024 since I got here and we're going to talk a little bit about that. But we'll start first with those that left hand side of what the board has actually done. Uh mission work in a school district is important. They note that in the training. You adopted a vision statement recently and during that dialogue over the last year and a half as we've been talking about this. We made a distinct decision that we wouldn't adopt a mission as a school district. We would adopt a vision statement and that we would actually have our campuses and departments adopt a mission statement for their building that directly aligns with the
007vision that you set. So the idea of setting direction from a board perspective that is what we have done and we will uh continue to work with our campuses and departments to address those mission statements moving forward. The next part is they talk about core beliefs and commitments. So what have we done in Arlington? We all adopted September 18th 2025 our values and beliefs. One of the reasons that we didn't use core beliefs and commitments is we wanted to make sure we attached a belief statement with this saying if you really value exceptional experiences in this we should say what it is so that we give direction to the system what that belief is uh and should we articulate them as values and beliefs theory of change for those of you on governance what are
008we doing right now we're talking about theory of change for the board to actually use your part theory of change in the policy with our appropriate input along the way but to identify that theory of change as needed. So then on the right hand side what have we done so far? We started with strategic planning last January and you remember we actually had facilitators come in and we worked with you all actually through numerous work sessions throughout the spring on the strategic plan. And here is the slide from Holdsworth that very clearly talks about what a strategic plan should do and what it shouldn't do. It should incorporate a broad set of stakeholder voices. What we've done in Arlington, remember, we even got thought exchanges out there and got, I think, 3,000 pieces of feedback
009on some of these things to incorporate. It should clearly articulate the most important fiveyear goals or big rocks. We've called those what? Priorities in our school district to be able to identify these are the things that we should push. Um it does say that a smaller number of goals is better, but remember since April 2024, we were working on the priorities in the school district and I think we actually when we were in the middle of that started with like nine priorities and before we finally adopted them, those were actually down the clock. Okay. And it should provide a broad inclusive destination. Remember, as your role as trustees, you help us set direction for the school district. It's kind of like putting in a map the GPS location where you want us to end up
010at the end of all of this. And then it's my job, what our team's job to help get us there. We're the ones that make the plans or the road map to actually get us there. What does the uh strategic plan does not do, it doesn't script every action that we're going to take for the goals. So that is not a mindset that we had in developing anything regarding the strategic plan and it should include uh or should not include excuse me goals for every operational area. We have our own department plans and improvement plans for each department but this doesn't all go into a strategic plan for so this was the mindset based on the training that we've all been through that we used in working through these things. So what have we done
011since then? Well, we actually, even though it says superintendent creates, we actually had the board involved in all of these things. So, you all know that we actually addressed priorities and goals at the same time. We had to do that when I first got here because we needed some clear goals for us to address as a school district. So, we adopted these actually in September of 2024 and then we revised them slightly September of last year. If you recall, uh the bottom one, talent, resources, was just resources at first, right? And we added talent because we realized that our staff was missing from some of these priorities. We wanted to clearly articulate that. But we've been using these this framework to get some of this work done for two years now to get these things
012moving forward. This is another way that we show this on a regular basis. on the left hand side you've adopted the priorities and then you clearly articulated in that language if you remember when we created these that language was from you all right there on the goals that's what you said is the destination that we want to get to for academic growth you want to ensure positive engaging experiences for every student that promote academic growth and ignite a passion for learning so that role of helping us set the destination you have been heavily involved in over the past two and all this. So through this whole process, we also have these things called annual improvement plans or district improvement plans and canvas improvement plans. This again is a hold for diagram that's used in their
013training. And what have you all done on these things? Every year you actually adopt those annual improvement plans for us that directly align with the priorities that you set out. So we use those priorities and goals that you set to actually inform our district and campus improvement plans because otherwise we can't move things forward in the system and hit the targets that you want as trustees. We have to have that alignment in the system. Those most recently were adopted in uh September of this year and I put that one up there. Safety and discipline is my example in the background because you can see you actually adopt as a role according to policy. Your job is to adopt the performance objectives on the annual plan. That performance objective up there under number one for safety
014and discipline is about increasing procedural effectiveness score. So keep that in the back of your mind for just a second. How this translates moving forward then is you actually also adopt our annual goals. We call them keep progress measures in our system. And we chose the word progress because that's supposed to be progress toward the priorities that you all set. And that's what you have on my evaluation instrument that we've used for the last two years is those key progress measures and you've adopted those the last two years as well. In the example that I want to show you, we adopted them this year on October the second. Those are the things that are uh supposed to be in my evaluation that you're holding me accountable for moving forward. Our staff helps identify that is
015the most important work. If we're going to take a good step forward in goals and toward those priorities, that's the work that we say is important for us to accomplish this year and that's what you all hold me accountable to and we report out on. And I'll talk about reporting in just a second. But if you notice under the third one, uh we just talked about you adopted the the um performance objectives in the district improvement plan under safety and discipline. So it would be the third row on the key progress measures, the procedural effectiveness score. So we take the exact things that you look at and what you adopt for those performance metrics and we actually incorporate them in my evaluation and the things you're holding me accountable for. So that's the alignment from
016all the way from the priorities which you set and the goals that you set all the way through to the superintendent evaluation in the system and that's the framework that Holdsworth is is uh been training people on and that's what we've been using since April of 2020 for since I got here. So, in this sample of reporting, here's what we've been doing. And I uh know that we probably should have spent more time talking about this, but we haven't. On your board attendance, you probably noticed that it says things like priority update on items. That means we're giving you an update on the priorities that you adopt. And some of them say key progress measure update. That's a specific update for you on our progress toward the key progress measure that you adopted. So you
017can see over the course of the year and this is pretty accurate. We said sample but pretty accurate what we've done the number of presentations that we have in board meetings that we publicly report out on the progress for the big goals and priorities that you set out as a school district and these are things that have been in place over the past two years and examples that we've been using. Our goal has always been uh is to make sure that there was a workshop every year on every priority so we could sit down and go through and talk in depth about that priority and what we're doing next. And I'll use an example. It was October of this year because I remember I felt bad about putting tit and a half months but we
018had a workshop in this room on marketing and engagement where we went over all the things that we were working on regarding marketing and engagement for the upcoming year. It's a deep dive into the strategic work over the course of the year. Over the course of this time, you have been doing pretty significant work. And I probably didn't do a good enough job reminding you all of process and where we were that we were checking boxes every time you did one of these things. And I probably should have taken more time to show those things. you have been actively working to allow us to get to a spot where the strategic plan can be developed by doing all these things over the course of two years. If we hadn't done these things, I can't develop
019a strategic plan and that's just the fact of all this. I need to be able to have what your your role is to be the to set direction for the school district. I need to have those things in place for us to do. And that's created this graphic and Jennifer has uh shared this graphic with you in a couple of different presentations now. And you can see from vision, values, belief, district priority, strategic plan, how these are all tied together when we're developing these important improvement plans. And right now we're at that strategic plan stage. And so we're going to lean into this idea of the strategic objectives next. giving you the context about all of the things that we've been chipping off in the past two years to get us to this point. But
020that last presentation, one of the mistakes I made is I probably should have told you all we're asking you to adopt the strategic objectives of our strategic uh plan. That was what the goal was of of giving that presentation, but I could tell that we we didn't communicate that clear enough in all this. But why that's really important is because we have to be able to say here are the things that the board wants to see strategically through this plan and we have to develop those annual plans for us to get there. It does not list out every action that we're going to take in the school district. But we do need those strategic objectives in our plan. Mo Casey talked about that specifically when they were facilitating for us about the importance of those
021strategic objectives and why that's important for us is you've already adopted priorities for us as a school district that helps us move forward with our planet and you've already adopted the goals that go with that. That's the end state or the desired state or the the picture of success at the end of all this. These are the bookends to a strategic plan. Here's your priority. Here's where you want us to go. But there's two things in the middle and this is where the remote casing model came in. Remember that those strategic objectives are an important piece of the puzzle so that we can ensure our annual goals and key progress measures uh in the dip and sips are all aligned to those things. What it would look like is this. We adopt those strategic objectives
022and then we have very clear 25, 26, 26, 27, 27, 28. And we build on that every year to eventually go from left to right what your priority was, what strategic objectives you have for that priority and what goals we want to hit at the end. My job is to work with our team on all of those years in between to make sure we have coherent plans to achieve that as we move forward. So that leads us into this idea of draft strategies and KPMs and I'm going to turn it over to Jennifer and talk a little bit about that. What kind of questions do you have from agents about that framework laying the foundation? Any any questions or comments that you all have? >> All right. So the last time we were together, we
023talked a little bit about um the books like this, right? These are the strategic objectives that Matt was talking about earlier. So before we jump in and start providing feedback on the content specifically, I wanted to show you just an example of some of the behind thescenes work that is deeper than what you see on this piece of paper. So we have a document right now with tabs down at the bottom for each of our different priority areas. And this is a screenshot from the culture tab. And what you'll notice is the box on the left up at the top says measure of success 2.1 advanced student well-being. So it's this first one here on the piece of paper, right? And then the second one says measure of success 2.2 boost employee engagement. So those
024are the two areas that we have listed here as our strategic objectives. Then what you'll notice underneath um the is the statement there and then the what we're calling an RC chart. So our team um is the thinking that we've been doing about this work and who would be accountable, who would be responsible um who needs to be consulted and who needs to be informed of each of these different pieces of work because our cabinet team is taking the lead on making sure this work happens that there are lots of people throughout the system that are busy working on the strategies year after year after year. So we feel like it's important to articulate up front who are the players that are going to be working together to achieve these objectives. Then what you'll notice
025down at the bottom is basically a sample of what Matt was showing earlier. It's a five years and what are the strategies or KPMs that we've drafted so far. I feel like this is a good example because what you might notice is um if you look to it so we tried to do some alignment here and so like this strategy here about utilizing feedback from a midyear staff pulse check didn't start with 25 26 it would start 26 27 and then there are some continued strategies that would happen 2728 and then essentially that work is done and can be sustained afterwards where there's something else that doesn't start until 2728. Does that make sense? >> So that's the way that this is kind of mapped out right now. It's not perfect and it's not final
026because we don't know for sure that our um strategic objectives are final, right? Because if we change any of the words and those strategic objectives, our strategies and our drafts would have to change as well. But this is the thinking that we've been doing together with principles with district leaders and then our cabinet senior staff team. We're really taking on this work. So any questions about this? >> Okay. So I wanted to uh provide just a little bit of opportunity. The slides thank you that we went through last time were really about the content of what we believe would be the meat of our strategic plan. And I I wonder about these words and um the evidence that we believe that this would provide to our community. And I think the biggest question we have
027is if we accomplish these three things, is this the evidence that our community would say that they would accept that yes, we had met the goal for academic growth? Does that make sense? >> So, I'm going to give you just a minute to look. Are there things that we are missing? Are there pieces specifically here that you feel we need more conversation about? Um because What we'll do is we'll take some time. We'll look at each of the different priority areas because again, if this isn't right, we can't make something that looks like a pretty publication or we can't go deeper into the the strategies, right? We have to make sure these are >> words. I I like them. I I I can't think of anything I would add to sum up what I would
028want for my children in terms of academic growth. >> One of the things that I think is important with this one is obviously it should align for HP3 goals. >> Um and I'm not sure where we are in the status of that law and how much further that's going to be a requirement. I assume it's going to continue to be a requirement. So, also kind of with that mindset, I love 1.2 and I love the way you phrase it. Um, when you look at our colleagues across the state, um, they phrase it a little more bluntly, >> which we did this year. >> Yeah. In our KPMS. and um I appreciate their boldness, but I think number, you know, the way we've raised 1.2 gets to the heart where we need to be focused. Um
029and I like the other two like the only thing that I'm concerned with. There are things that are addressed in HB3 goals that I think are vitally important to our um district where it is now versus where we want it to be and that is closing the gaps. Um when you look at what we need to do to close the gap between our sub populations or students uh at risk students and and others especially the campus like um that is vitally important and something the state's going to be creating our net on sure the state that's an opportunity of growth for us that I think is vitally important that's missing from here and likewise um on the closing of the gaps domain. Um I don't see you know we want to I love the way
030you phrase it and the whole earth phrase our role is to define the ends and you guys define the means right in defining the ends I I think we'd be remiss if we didn't set strong uh graduation goals like what do we want are the end result of all this work we do to be uh when it involves the three E the uh enrollment employment or the enlistment right life after high school and where what you know what do we need to do in terms of preparing those students for those three things with you know more aspirational not necessarily you know CCMR goals But that just seems to be a gap with this one. This one's vitally important and it and it needs to be very like I like it's not just student outcomes focused,
031but it talks about the experience, but we do have to be mindful of those three key key areas of student outcomes and where we need growth in the next five years. I think we're also in a really situation with our state right now knowing that our assessment is about to change. We know that our CCR metrics are changing. They've already published um some of what those rules could look like. And we also know that accountability is going to be changing. And so um like you mentioned earlier, House 3 is expired in 2026. So we don't know exactly what that's going to look like moving forward. So we can of course look at student groups like like we always do and set goals for student groups. I think it's it would be um it would be
032dangerous in my mind to set goals on an assessment that we don't know what it's going to look like five years down the road. But I think that those annual targets are the things um that are focused right now because we do know what our test is going to look like right now. When we do know what our test is going to look like next year, we don't know what it's going to look like. No, but I I think we can still create strategic objectives absolutely around those three and then define up those KMs on an annual basis given the uncertainty around those. But there's also probably some other KDMs we look at. One of the things that some of our other districts have done in their strategic objectives is purposely remove some of the
033star focused objectives and replace it with NWA map or what's the other screener for early grades. >> Yeah. And and I would like to see that as well because I want to be, you know, we want to show to our community that STAR is not the end all be all. >> But we are focused on academic achievement and holding ourselves accountable in ways that are meaningful. It's not a single test given on a single maybe on multiple days now, but you get the idea. >> I think our perspective in the way that this one is worded is that the only way that we would increase academic achievement is by bolstering early literacy and early mathematics because if that falls apart, we're not going to be able to hit those metrics. And then also knowing that
034student groups play an important part in ensuring that we have A and B rated campuses because you're not going to have an A and B rated campus if you have student groups that are not continuing to grow. You have to close those gaps and then thinking about the assessments and the changes that are happening. That that's kind of our why it's worded the way that it is. But yeah, I thought that was important to note that um closing the gaps between student groups and also CCMR, whatever that will look like, that is going to be a big part of the formula for the foreseeable future with our campus A through F, right? So it all kind of plays a compliment. >> Yeah. And I think that was the debate we had because this the A
035and B rated schools will encompass those changes, but we don't know what those changes fully look like yet. It's just being about that. So that's we're going to see how the assessment changes and how that changes in accountability ratings, but the assessment in the domain like domain three closing the gaps that's going to that's going to be there no matter what. No, but it it is vitally important to us and it should be as a board and it is should be a strategic focus. >> So I think it's worth calling out as a strategic objective. It just might be tricky given the uncertainty going forward on coming up with good measures. This is a living document so we're going to have to adjust it as we go along anyway or we should right also something
036we learned at work. Um, if I could can I throw something out that could encompass especially the closing the gaps. What what we see from exemplar districts from across the state is oftent times in their strategic plans they put KPMS associated with guard rails and we can have a broad goal in the strategic plan in terms of the priorities and strategic objectives but then set a guardrail that the superintendent shall also close the grow growth and ensure that we're providing equitable opportunity for all to learn and as a vari that was one thing that I see Charlotte Meckllinmberg and a few districts that are under um what's the council city pools equivalent of lonear governance is that's where they put those KPMs and in their guard rails and we haven't adopted guard rails but in
037this strategic plan site That's something my colleagues would be interested in exploring. It's another way we could handle that. >> And I think most districts you will find don't necessarily always articulate guard rails, but that's where values and beliefs or your commitments come in because those are in essence you saying as a board this is what we stand for. So when we talk about inclusive culture as one of your values that is a guardrail for us to know that we everything that we do has to be uh aligned with creating that inclusive culture in our system or when we talk about learning environments everything we do has to be that safe productive learning environment in the system we can't we can't vary from that those are the guard rails that we use >> yeah security
038often I mean those guardrails >> and so that's typically you don't always see the term guardrails You do see it in some but typically you see it in beliefs or um values or statements like that because that's the foundation that we have to do everything around. >> So the next is culture. Um, >> I got to tell you, I'm enjoying watching Jennifer trying live here and it's not working. >> Um, >> sorry. >> Sure. >> I just want to make sure I'm understanding what what is would like to see changed about is is the change that you're wanting to see or the the addition at this level of articulation or >> Yes. What specifically >> closing the gaps >> is that >> and a graduation related towards CCM. Most most of our peer districts have
039those two. They typically have about five of these in academic growth and they include a graduation goal, great goal or CCMR goal and or both and also a domain three goal on closing the gaps >> and and I understand what you're saying. I feel like we do those, but we don't do them. We have those even we don't necessarily like do they need to be in this year or could we change it like I'm trying to understand your concern. So could we say improve student academic achievement by and improve student academic achievement and close opportunity gaps by increasing the number of a rate and C rate what the rest of it is because as I understood what Dr. Collins and Dr. that that's necessarily baked into the ABC, >> but maybe Natalie can chime in.
040But often times the 3A like you get your growth goals and then you might still be um you're not actually closing the gaps but yet you can raise the campus from a D to a B without that. >> Good. >> And so it's not necessarily connected to that. So, can you >> can you at this level of articulation provide an example of what you would like to see because I I'm trying to like I'm used to we've got three strategic planes I've been a part of now and at the highest level of articulation this looks very familiar to me and what you were saying sounds to me like the next level of nuance that we have articulated elsewhere. Can you give me an example of what one like a new 1.2? What would a new
0411.2 look like? It wouldn't be a new 1.2, it' be a 1.4 or 1.5. >> Okay? >> And and there's really look at fors for example or look at Austin's for example, those would be good examples or long. And so there's two two ways we can go about that because again our approach was it's encompassed in that but in the annual improvement plan you would call out those things and that be >> along the way and that's totally fine. That's why we that's why we had the presentation before and why we wanted to get this feedback is that if if there's something not that you would like to see adjusted with the um the strategic objectives then that's fine but that was just that was our thinking in it is that it would be very
042clearly articulated in the annual performance goals. So >> so clarifying for me the trustee who's never done this. So there's this this piece this high level piece and then there's a piece under which will go into more detail. >> That's our district and campus improvement plans. Okay. We actually >> and that is where what he is asking for would live. >> That was our thought. >> We don't have input in that as from a strategic plan. That's his domain. >> Right. But if we set the other screen to where we want it, then naturally what he creates will be what we are wanting to see. >> But we don't adopt that. We adopt this. >> Right. Right. So if we adopt this then naturally the plan that goes under it is going to reflect what
043we adopted. >> Yeah. And I think I'm looking at the long view one right now. I think this actually this is a good example of why >> I'm I feel like we're viewing this but we don't do it at this level. So goal 1A under the long view plan is increase the percentage of students achieving that meets grade level or above on the third grade reading star third grade reading language our star from 52% to 70% by 2030 and I feel like we do that we have KPMs like that but I don't know if I've seen them articulated in a strategic plan at this level >> but we have We do have this. We have a We do have this currently. So, you're saying you would you would prefer this to look like we should
044we should have a 1.4 that has some sort of closing the guess and then and then you know the the thing that we're trying to do is graduating session prepared students for life college that is the our goal is and it's not incorporated here. >> So does 1.4 4 then look like what you just said or is it >> close the gaps by increasing x number increasing CCMR to x% >> these are these are objectives these aren't smart goals >> the smart goals come with the annual plan but what I think I'm hearing you say so example under that column that it says improve academic performance what would hit your target David is if we had a let's imagine it goes from 1.2 2 to 1.3 right underneath it and it says u improve outcomes
045for all student uh group populations. >> Yep. >> And that is that's the high higher level saying from a strategic objective point you want to articulate that clearly in something like this. >> Yes, >> I get I get it. >> And then some sort of CCMR graduation um you know prepping students for three E Charlotte. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, same thing with culture. Thinking about the evidence there within those strategic objectives. Is that the evidence that you believe our community would accept that yes, we have met a culture? Is there something that we're missing? So last meeting um I remember us talking a little bit about the wording under the employee side. Was there something that um what was there something that made you guys decide against adding well-being under the staff side? We
046actually Oh, I'm sorry. Natalie and I actually messed around with adding well-being in. This is just the same slide deck from the last meeting. they haven't made any changes to it, but we actually do have a draft of law being added into >> because I I really prefer that and I think it's an important piece of employees being engaged and I I also think there are a lot of efforts um being made already um that are in motion and I think being able to just have that would be a good addition to 2.2. >> Great. >> Um and I think the last I mentioned something on this one that we wanted to make sure that um Arlington was the destination to serve for educators and something aspirational to make sure that we provide the right
047culture that educators want to look for and that kind of 2.2 but I don't know we want to be either reate 2.2 or add 2.3. >> There's also a little bit in the talent and resources section whenever we're talking about >> Oh, yeah. >> But if we don't hit it in the talent and resources, we'll always come back to this because I I I agree you like we want to be the place where people love. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> We adding anything we cover the student staff. We add anything about families and culture. >> Not for this one. the families piece shows up in the engagement. >> Sir, I just pulled up our draft and it reads cultivate an environment that prioritizes employee well-being as a foundation for strong commitment, satisfaction, and promotion of the
048district. >> On to safety and discipline. Again, evidence that we have met this goal. This is one that we've talked a lot about together as a team. Um just trying to consider and you know we're supposed to have a workshop tonight on safety and you know some additional feedback that we feel like we need from you guys because there is a perception in our district about safety and discipline and so what is the work that we need to be doing? What are what are the measures? What is the data that we need to share to help people realize the growth that is happening with behavior? >> That that workshop's just postponed. We'll still bring that back when appropriate. But that was the purpose of that workshop tonight is to dive deep into what we're doing.
049Realize that the data that we keep showing everybody shows our discipline and behavior improving in our district. And yet we still hear that it's squirtle >> that it's not. So trying to figure out so what is it from a board perspective you want to have us report out on to help with this because the data we have shows contrary what that swirl is in our school district. People have said to me that they think things don't get reported to like the the high school current office because then they don't want us to know. So that's a perception that there's all these things that are going on but we don't want the public to know. So we keep it hush hush and I don't know if we want to go as far as to give you
050know I don't think we want to pinpoint schools but to say you know on the high school level you know these are the number of fights or these are the number of I think I think if people saw the numbers it it would help them believe that it is getting better and maybe even compare it to two years ago three years ago something like that because people think it's happening and and it's just not being reported because we don't want the public to know and the schools don't want us to know. So I don't know maybe something like that. I don't know that we want to do at Sam or at Martin. I don't know if we want to do that. >> Yeah. And that's the and we can get into that in that workshop
051when we have that coming up. But that's why we've been reporting those numbers publicly in board meetings in the last two years and saying I I don't know what to say when we show our district number of fights last year versus our district number of fights this year. Like I publish it like on the web. We could >> I mean they're all on the internet. Every presentation we had was on the web >> but maybe you know we need a link safety and safety and security. >> Yeah. >> So let's hold that thought when we get to that safety and discipline workshop because that's that exact we're having like what is it what is it going to take to actually stop this because we our data shows that this is not true. >> Yeah. These
052are great. >> Priority four, marketing and engagement. >> I love it. And I think at this high level, I like that we're focusing more on the engagement side because marketing is part of our part of our whole plan and our priorities, but this is more about the big picture, the engagement that everyone who's part of the district can feel and go on that. So is this one where we could put maybe a 4.4 and it would talk something about saying because we're marketing engaging engagement making sure that each campus is marketing to their full potential because every story is different from campus to campus. We hear it all the time that we shout certain tools for the rooftop and not others. That this way we could show and that making sure each story each school
053has their own story to share and make that a priority. However, you set the action plan of how that's going to be accomplished. I think our initial thought was that's really under 4.1 because that ensuring that we have family interest in what the school itself is doing because frankly they care far less about what the district does. But when we say district program offerings we really mean at the campus level so that we're actually trying to draw people in and making sure people aren't leaving. That's the idea of those battle cards and stuff. We can absolutely um work on wording or adding something else. Yeah, just something be a little bit the battle is exactly what I was thinking of. Something that we can look at and point to and say that we're wanting for
054each campus to have their own marketing engagement, their own story. >> Yeah, understood. And I like 4.1. My big thing with this with this priority is I want to make sure that parents first choice is around not all the other competition and I don't know we need to tweak this to kind of have more of that mindset that where we want to be in five years as a board is we want people's first choice to be Arlington ISD not some charter are not homeschooled. We're the destination of choice. >> And that's where we thought 4.2 really hit that one because it was about families actually having active support of our school district and saying that's the place to send your to. >> Yeah. And I think Yeah. That's why looking at these and thinking after
055seeing so many districts that have guard rails that with KPMs associated to them that you know we we definitely want to increase family engagement because you know family engagement increases student outcomes. We also want to engage parents and do all the wonderful things so that our dynasties their first church they see we are the amazing district that we are. So there's a lot of different things after this one priority back to the values real quick. So you go back to again David's using the word guard rails but a lot of districts use the word hey I have it a little bigger sorry a lot of districts use u you know belief statements or core values sorry that part but that idea of strong partnerships with families um provide the foundation for student success so that's
056where we articulated that idea of hey these partnerships and how we actually partner with families we have to that that's our guard That's what we have to be developing. >> Yeah. But what I'm talking about is definitely squarely in the marketing part of the marketing engagement side. We want to be able to prove to the world that this is where it's happening and and so a little more of that sentiment I think could go a long way in that I don't how it's I don't have the answer for if I could change anything that's the only thing I would change. lost with his talent and resources. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Um so in terms of maximizing our resources and able also make the destination for parents that have a choice. I think the one thing
057that's missing is facilities to create the kind of learning environments that parents are demanding students deserve. That's that was you know I noticed that in a lot of other districts across the country and we on package we know we got to continue work we got aging instruction we know we need to right size so and a lot are putting in that right sizing as a 5-year-old as well. So, you know, that is a big rock that we're gonna have to lift and does it deserve to be in here? >> I think the right sizing, we could probably make a good argument for having to have that in here uh as a strategic objective. If we just went back to learning environment, we did articulate that in the >> Yeah, learning environment. Yeah. But, um but
058as a resource facilities, that's a big that's a good chunk. So adding a potentially a 5.3 right sizing in some way, shape or form. >> Y right sizing while still maintaining high quality 20% century learning environments that parents demand. >> So would that go under talent and resources? Then >> it's typically found in the resource section of the strategic plans. I I would say it might have to go to the fiscal stability about the right sizing because it's the use of our resources and for fiscal reasons and stuff, but we can a little bit of that language as well. >> All right. So the next question that we need input from the board on is is there a desire for the board to formally adopt the objective? So thinking about the adjustments that you guys
059talked about tonight or is there a preference to wait and adopt something that looks more like a final publication, something that looks slick and like a magazine with all pretty pictures and those kinds of things. I think some people in their minds when they think strategic plan, that's what they're thinking about. Um, and so the question is, should we run forward with the conversations we've had tonight and just keep moving and then ultimately bring you a product with the content or is there a desire for the board to adopt the content before we keep running? I'd like to see the whole thing. So the only ask that I had though is that we don't vary because we've got to get the plans in place. >> That's why we were bringing you the perform performance objectives
060or the excuse me the strategic objectives like we can't change those when we bring you the final copy again because we're trying to get the actual plans in place for this next year which is right now. >> Correct. >> So that's the reason the timing of this is so important but we we're we're doing our best to try and get our district and campus improvement plan started now. Those strategic objectives are critical pieces of that. So based on the feedback that we got tonight, if you're good moving forward, then what we're going to use that to create our plans. What we can't have is coming back in July and saying, "No, we want to change these things." That's that's where that's where the rubber meets the road for that's why we were bringing these to
061you. And I I understand that and that's why I mentioned to our president instead of scrapping last week to a discussion that we want to frame it as just adopting these and last chance to provide input. Um I like the fact you know the training culture cause where our line ends in terms of what we approve and what we own ends with these. And then it's all up to you and everyone in this room to develop that action plan. But you know like Melody and if you look at the strategic plans that we've had all three prior we've only adopted the end result and it is the combination of your piece and our piece in a cohesive coharent package. Um and then the for the first time we're going to have that tight alignment which
062I'm excited about. Um but I can go all that to say I can go either way. We have president that we've adopted the mission. We've or the vision um the values and beliefs and the priorities. We've even in L's strategic plan adopted eight key progress measures. um >> over your first two years. >> And I want to be clear, we're we're still going to do those on an annual basis because those are based on annual plans, >> right? Exactly. >> So they have to be they have to be something that you look at every year because it's based on the data that you have of your school year. >> Yeah. So I could go either to ensure your credit. I know that didn't help you, Jennifer, but I'll leave it up to the rest of
063my colleagues to decide. I personally can go either way. As long as you feel you have enough feedback, then we are certain with what we said or clear enough without having to come back and formally adopt what we just said tonight. >> What you think? >> I just wrote down time for the full rebrand. I do think that if we do the pretty version, I call, you know, reversion, then this is the time to lay it all out at one time. Um, and it's more of something where the public will see the decisions that you're making because it's tangible, the look is different, it feels different. Um, I think they see and hear maybe the content based on the work that they do, how we say it, but there's nothing like having brand new collateral
064with >> I'm okay with either two. I just don't we gave you feedback um that we wanted to proceed with the strategic plan with urgency and I want I'm just speaking for me. I want to make sure that we're holding another end of that and so I'm open either and I really like what Tina just said but I also um would understand if our board goes in the direction of just approving the content at this time. you won't get a a total rebrand until later. Like that's just >> so that's not gonna be next month. I hate to tell you all that. So the idea and that's that's the key in all this. So again, the agreement then is just >> if we're going to do that, if you want to wait till the end
065to actually have formal board adoption and we've got to be given a green light to run with what we got >> green light. I'm afraid if we keep coming back, we're going to keep wanting to change and add. And so I say just take it out of our hands and do the thing and then let us see it. What do you think? >> At least I can add value and I don't think I have anything of value to add here. >> Well, what's your desire? Do you want to approve content or do you want to wait and adopt the final publication? >> I could go either way. It does not. >> I thought that's what >> Yeah. Do you >> what? Drive fast. Take chances. >> Natalie and I were just in the car together
066for about five hours. >> Oh, is she a fast driver? >> Well, I was driving. >> Oh, now we know. >> All right. So, I do want to share with you some sample district reports and some sample district um annual reports. So, I think that it's important for us to look at what other districts are doing. And my goal is to flash it up there. There are links to these if you want to click in and go look, but I just have to do some screen grabs because I'm interested to hear what are the things that are important to you. And this will help Tyena. This will help us as we think about where we're headed together as a system. Does that make sense? >> All right. So, the first I'm going to show you
067is Friendswood. Friendswood went from a like 30page document down to their new strategic plan is like a brochure. So that is the front and back on the left and then the inside um down in the bottom right and that is their publication for their strategic plan. >> So is their annual plan separate or >> their annual report separate? This is just a big work. >> Yeah, that's that's a key thing. That's >> you'll see that most districts are in two camps. It's the allin-one like we used to do or it's everything up to what we just where our line ends and then they are and then they'll do an annual plan with annual updates. So >> I mean it's this is it right >> too that seems a little too light for our community. Are
068there pluses and or concerns things that you like about it and then things that you would be worried about? >> I like that it's short. >> Yes. And if you want more, you can go back for it. I'm as a stakeholder in the district. I'm not going to flip through a bajillion pages. I'm going to check out I'm going to scan it and find the pretty graphic that draws me in. >> Yeah. I want something very quick to digest and walk away with. >> And going back to everyone can articulate what our vision is and how they play part in it. It would be important for it to not get too like a book, you know what I mean? And like yes, the the details are there and the KPMs are there, but what would
069we want in a publication? I think that might be two different um two different things. >> Yeah. And one thing I'll say, Dr. chime in. But every you've been involved in all three or all too. >> So we've always had the our big document has not been very big. But then we do a a core panel brochure that's like this that high level. >> I'm trying to remember there's a four panel brochure but in essence it looked very similar like this and it was >> it's what we gave out. >> Exactly. Right. And then behind those kind of like what Jennifer was saying earlier all the weeds of like the work that we're doing we have but what was public facing was much more concise in this way. Yeah. >> And the only the only
070difference was is there was these are goals with like 4.3. We would we would articulate I think they've done it here. See how it says one two and two and three on on the side. >> Those are the years that those things are happening. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I always like that about our our ass. >> Okay. Okay. So, I'm going to put that on the next one. So, this is different. This is Austin public schools >> and this is their strategic plan. And you'll notice on in the middle that's the table of contents and the last page says 64. >> So, it's a very beefy strategic plan. >> Not my favorite. >> Too busy. Too much. Too much info for the strategic. >> Do you like the colors? >> Yes. >> Not at all.
071>> Do you like >> There's too many colors. >> Not the I think the colors are all blue. >> All the priorities are color coded. I like that I was showing one >> earlier and you know I like it just makes it easy to read other priority and it's strategic objectives are all colorcoded. >> That is true. It is very colorcoded. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Let's the next one. So this is the Northwest ISD strategic plan. There's a one major. This is what you know. >> Yeah. >> So, here's the best part of working with a board. Literally saying, "I'm digging it." Shaking her head now. >> You can just post it up on the wall. There you go. >> I think there's more that we have to share than just one page. And I
072also like pictures and that does not have enough pictures of our kids, our teachers, our beautiful facilities. There's so many things to show that we have and I think pictures draw people in. We look at social media now and posts are red if they have pictures attached. They're words. That's a lot of words. Let's get people pictures and all that. I think >> but people aren't going to go to scientifically. >> Yeah. But if you're reading the strategic plan, you read it or you're reading for the content what we're trying to accomplish. I think it depends on the stakeholder. >> There's a there's a zen balance in there somewhere. >> I would love to know this. I think it's a good question. I would love to really know how many people actually opened our strategic
073plan on our website. Would that be interesting to know? >> Interesting to know. What I do like about this one though is that it has core beliefs and vision at the very top and then you it's like everything else follows. So no matter how precise or how how lengthy it is, I do like the visual of that. I like I like the order of the content. >> The hierarchy is important. Yeah. And that's the order of how we adopt. >> Two more. So this is mentioned earlier again. table of contents is in the middle there. You can see the last page. I think this is 31. So, it is a longer strategic plan. You'll see the goals and guard rails, pillars of excellence, priority deep, >> their pillars of excellence are like priorities >> and
074they're colorcoded as well. >> I hear the color coding might be great to be to show alignment in our system. >> Yes. >> Have 64 pages. Yeah. I need some color coding to follow 64 pages. If it's a I don't need color coding. I would be lazy. >> And it's got their both their bills in their guard rails and their guard rails and KPIs. >> May I interject? But I think to Le's point, um it would follow this way on the website. So when you build out, we would have year one, year two, and therefore you would have those colors. And so if color coding is important, that's good feedback for us to note in the design process. A lot of these you can actually click on the link it will take you to a
075site where you can pull up the PDF but the site is a little more interactive. >> Last night this is which is kind of close. So the um the data that's provided up on the top right um was unique um plans but then you'll see their strategic priority their next steps. So that's their year long plans and then they also had a one pager that was their last page that was their strategic plan added alliance. So it was the back cover essentially of their strategic plan book. >> So this >> that we did it stay in the district. Oh, I love showing that off to people. >> Yeah, I I love this. This right here, I think, is one of the best things that we get to share. >> So, anything that is similar in
076style to this, I don't know if you guys all got too, >> but that I love this because it's easy to grasp right here. Here's your key factors. Here's your key numbers. This is what you want to know. We're 99 square miles. We have so many employees. We do this. But for strategic plan, it's all digestible right here. I I know as a trustee I may be different but this is something that the parent could put on their fridge and a little board and be like okay if I needed to reference something they would be here. >> Yeah. And so we we we had both documents one that was about what 27 pages for our last one did >> about 30 pages >> 20ish. Um and then we had that Brooklyn we and that and
077every time we did a presentation at Dazzy that was our leave behind >> but I don't community ever saw I was >> community most community got that >> yeah I want that is fabulous. Yeah, I want some. >> In fact, as a trustee, I would love to have 25 of those to keep >> on yours. >> Yeah, I I think that right there is when I picture something, my feedback is I want something that looks like that >> that looks like us. That is unique. It doesn't look like. It doesn't look like Henrietta. It doesn't look like looks like us. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, I've got three more things I want to show you. And they these are sample accountability reports. So think about we're one year into the strategic thing that it's
078time for us to bring in evidence. So this is evidence that different districts publish annually and they share with the board but they also turn them into something that was like a publication. So again >> who else did they help >> a community accountability >> community based accountability. Yes. >> Um so this is Alamo Heights. You'll notice some of the charts here are the exact same kinds of charts that we look at in board meetings, right? You'll see map reports there, right? you see in class reports. Um so the pillars for their goals are listed up at the top and then it's their evidence that's captured um there towards the bottom. Feels like a lot of words and a lot of data. I don't know how digestible it is, but is this what we need
079and want because we we're proving to the community this is the progress that we're making towards our goals. Oh, is this separate than like an annual plan? >> This isn't the plan. This is number four. How long? Here's how we >> progressing every year. >> It's a lot of information. >> I do like the question subtitles. To what degree are learners academically, right? To what degree? Like that's >> Yeah, I like that. I do like that about it. It has like that accountability connotation. >> Each of their priorities is colorcoded >> national measure. >> Um, >> yeah, I like that. Are we going to see some annual plans or just basically >> these are just annual reports? >> What are you asking about? Um, so from a board like so from a board perspective, the
080one thing I like about Charlotte Mlinberg and they they have their strategic plan which is what we adopt and then the annual plan from the superintendent and their progress. >> Okay. Well, I'll wait. >> All right. So, clear this is another example. So, the board's message to the community. This is an annual message to the community that this is how we have done. There's the numbers focused on their goals and then academic achievement is an example of one of their areas. You'll see some data there and then you'll see even a deeper dive there into career and technical education. So they go pretty deep for each one of their goal areas. And then one of the things that I found on theirs that was unique was their last page was looking ahead to 2026 and
081beyond. So it was not only here's how we did but here are our steps moving board. So it's kind of the bridge to the work. >> This might be my favorite. >> And I like that I have the numbers in the middle which speaks to Brooklyn's >> look to me. >> Yes. >> And I would guess that these are colors. It's not too far. >> All right, one more. This is Charlotte Member and some of the data in their single accountability reports. >> Like this is very similar to your graphic, which I love that alignment. So, I love that you were intentional about that and what you guys are doing. >> And then you'll see those goals of our girls up at the top. We actually developed it first and they copied this just so
082you know. >> But can you talk about this? This is what as a board member and I love this. >> So that's their implementation plan. So kind of like we what we talked about in our car sheet chart. Where are we in implementing the work? And so um something is in the planning stages. It's being implemented. It's fully developed and it's being sustained. So that's kind of their color coding um for the big work that's moving forward. And this and they they do this same graphic when they present to the board. So we can see >> um is it blue meaning they're in the middle of the work still or is it fully implemented green and then after that just sustained going forward. So for all strategic actions that they're doing to achieve our goals,
083we can see exactly where they are. And again, this wasn't in their strategic plan. This is how they report how >> this is the action plan, the annual action plan. >> Not the action plan. It's their evidence of the work that's happening. It's the trajectory, >> but it's included in their action plan document. >> Yeah. >> And they even have the whole graphic there. >> I know I included that. All right. So then board input needed. So just thinking about components that we want to include in the strategic plan publication. So thinking fiveyear plan and then also different ways that we want to report to the community about the progress that we're making towards those strategic objectives. So my first one was saying what is what is the collateral that's going to be beneficial for
084you to have and that we should be sharing with other people over the course of the year because yes there will be um board reports. Yes, there will be boards. Yes, there will be, you know, collateral made, but what are going to be the pieces that our community will accept as evidence and how do we communicate best? Um, so this will be work that we're continuing to work on. Um, so we can pause for a minute if there's any other thoughts that you have about this or we can just continue conversations with you as we're continuing to develop this. Think we got most of the feedback. >> All right. So when I hear for next steps, just so we're all on the same page, we're going to move forward with the um hits and the
085recommendations that you make regarding perform strategic objectives and we will incorporate those and we're going to move forward with our planning process. The thing you would like us to do is bring you a final product at the end, which we're probably talking Julyish, um to be able to say yes, we're good with this. start new school year. >> Yeah, that's perfect timing. >> Okay, >> great. >> Should we schedule another work session midway to answer any questions you might have on the way to >> No, I meant about how we structure things, not about their plan. They're good on that. We we let them run content. I think we can show you through uh board bulletin and stuff. I don't know that we need another you all. We can do more workshops on these. I
086just don't know that we need or presentation >> I think in our oneonone that >> come back to us for final step discussion action pass for sure. Okay. All right. It is 6:19. At this time, we will recess brief close session of the board chambers pursuant to sections 5.1.071 51.084 and 51109 code agenda.