001You have a packet in front of you. Um, and there are a few items in there. Uh, if there are things that I don't cover this afternoon, um, you can request them. I did not give you printouts of everything. Um, but you do have as we get started here, um, a print out of the slides, although I will be pulling up some additional slides as well. You also have in your packet um this important dates um handout that's not in the slide deck but that does include um all the different things we have been doing the past few months related to strategic planning. Our agenda uh we're going to review the process thus far and what we've been working on. Talk a little bit about the family and community focus group. Um it's a wonderful
002group of people that you nominated to be part of that and we met again last night. I will be sharing u part of the data triangle survey results with you. I'm not going to have time to go through all of them, but I'll share some highlights and key findings. And then I want to present to you for discussion some draft plan structures and priorities. And then you'll get a chance to do some voting. That'll be the game that Miss Gillyard wants to play. Um and then I will share with you a few next steps uh before we adjourn. >> Way I want to interject that um I I presented last week to the superintendents in Florida, a group of them and Jonathan actually put together a little uh packet for me. But they were uh
003they were very impressed with our process, you know, going back. This is our third iteration since I've been in. And uh you know we had one in 16 21 to 26 and now this will be the three year to 29 but you know I think we take for granted that the work we're doing but I think a lot of other districts are nowhere near what you know we have done thanks to Jonathan. that I was talking to him prior to the meeting and that I'm surprised the state hasn't come in yet and tried to tell every district how to follow a prescribed course of every type of instructional issue from to get donors for their whatever their issues are. Well, we've learned so much through this process and I realized it myself just looking at
004the information Jonathan gave me, but we had the Miami date superintendent there and you know, not that that means anything, but you know, I think a lot of people are interested in, you know, the process that we're going through. >> Well, that's good. >> All right, so let's dive in. When I talk about focus group focus groups, um, we have done a protocol this time. um strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats protocol. Uh I did this with district leaders, with school principles, with the student advisory council that meets with Dr. Cerny, and with the family and community focus group that I've been meeting with. Um and so we've used that uh data collection protocol as part of our data analysis, the data triangle survey, of which I'm going to share some results with you. Just a
005reminder, we partnered with an outside organization uh to gather perception data from all of our stakeholders. So, students in grades four and up, our families, our teachers, our support staff, so people in roles like par professionals, food service, etc. Uh school leaders and district leaders all had the opportunity to respond to that survey. Throughout this process, you know, we are always looking at data, but we have looked at district grade component data, enrollment and attendance, a districtto district comparison, which I'm going to share with you, perception surveys, staff recruitment and retention, financial and communications data. We think about the interactions we have with our families and community. And then, as you know, uh Dr. Dr. Cerny and I have been part of the FADS cohort of districts that are going through strategic planning together with
006um a consultant or a couple of consultants helping us and that process continues. Uh we meet again I think in a week or so. Um, but that process has allowed us to get feedback in our plan and it's also helped us make some refinements and revisions and just the sharing of best practices and so we've learned a lot from that group and you know I presented at the very beginning of this process in January and there are some things that we've adjusted along the way and a lot of those adjustments came out of some of that support from the fads cohort. So, I want to share with you some of what the family and community focus group has been doing. Just as a reminder, each of you um submitted two names to me, a parent
007uh and a community member from your district. And then we invited uh a few key partners to join us from St. John's River State College, our education foundation, and from um the chamber. So in session one u and again those dates are on that handout I gave you but in session one we did that protocol with the group and we started with just general perceptions and they had the opportunity to work in small groups and talk about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the district and then we put those up on sticky notes on chart paper and then what I did is I gave them the strategic plan student performance report. And so we kind of went off of what are their general perceptions by just being out in the community and what they hear
008um and what they discuss in their roles. And then we looked at our student performance data and then we added to those charts as we analyze data together in thinking about our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And then we finished session one uh by looking at a few of the unofficial results from our data triangle survey. it had just wrapped up and so we didn't have anything official yet. We started to look at the responses from families and communities. In session two, which was just last evening, uh we looked at a district-to- district comparison that actually came from the group. In session one, we were talking about our data and the comments came up. Well, you know, you say this is what it is and we're seeing it, but is it good? Is it bad?
009where does it compare to surrounding districts? Um, and so that's one of the things they asked for. And so last night we we reviewed that together. Um, and as part of that, we discussed the Florida scorecard and gap map to create a little additional context and understanding that when we talk about district comparisons, not every single district and county is equivalent. um when we think about metrics. So we think about uh median household income, we think about access to tutoring, we think about access to other um opportunities, childhood poverty, all those different things um are metrics that impact comparisons and so we created a little additional context. Um but that was a great conversation from them. >> US News and World Report used to take into consideration poverty rates and title title nine. I mean,
010not not title nine, but title one, you know, statistics and and estimations. And I would think we would be well up there compared if we went by proper comparisons other than >> well that you say that and it came out kind of last night because then they asked for a second comparison of looking at similar demographics related to um income and poverty levels by district and looking at comparisons to similar types of districts to ours across the state rather than just the ones that surround us geographically. So, we had a great conversation about that and um then we wrapped up by talking about the draft structure of our new plan and they had an opportunity to vote on some draft priorities as we start to think about language. One of the things we've been doing
011with them um and it's been wonderful conversation uh just helping them better understand uh things like district grade and the components that make up district grade. um helping them understand the different data sources that we track. Uh and so this is a slide that I know you have seen before, but they had not. And so we've been talking about trying to get to a B and then that kind of led to um our look at the districtto district comparison. I did provide you a copy of that in your packet. Um, and so what I did is I pulled in just the seven districts um that surround us geographically and I kind of mapped out all 12 of the district grade components. Um, and we talked a little bit about how two of those components are
012lagging, right? when we think about the graduation cohort from 2025, all of that final data is not finished and then until usually it's published officially in January or February and then it impacts the following year's district and school grades. So when you look at your handout, you will see not only the comparison of the seven geographic counties that surround us and rankings within those um each of those categories, but on the second page, you will see where I've already filled in two of those that we know um for the coming year for when we think about 2026. So the graduation rate and then the college and career acceleration. Um, if you're looking specifically at college and career acceleration, that is something that we have been working with our high schools with for the past four
013years. And that is a metric that you cannot easily impact in one year. You can't just start your senior year and try to impact that. You have to start when students enter as freshmen. So we have been working with our secondary leaders for a number of years on that metric and now we're finally seeing the results of that. So if you look back here last year in that category we were eighth out of eighth of when we think about these districts surrounding us um with 46 in that cell and this year we will be fourth out of eight with 66. And so that's one that we have been working on and now we are finally getting the results from that. So sometimes there are metrics that you you can't just magically improve in a year.
014They take a lot of systems and time to build up. Our graduation rate obviously is another example of that of that took a decade to get into the 90s consistently because of all the work we needed to do to fix that. So that's just a comparison for you. Uh and we talked about that. are not going to go into the Florida Scorecard or the GAP map, but you can Google these and spend some time there if you've never been on these websites. Uh they're great because they provide a lot of metrics for every single county and district across the state. Um and the gap map allows you to look at lots of different metrics by zip code and you can pick surrounding counties and zip codes or other counties and zip codes throughout Florida and
015do comparisons that way. So, we did that in the group. Um, and then last night we also went through the data triangle survey results um with the group and we spent a lot more time with them than I'm going to spend with you this afternoon. Uh, but just as a reminder uh we administered these surveys in February um for all stakeholder groups. The survey results are shown using what are called average favorability percentages. So, as we start to look at some of this data together, um I'll speak more about that. The district leaders have already met to review the data um and we are starting to use that data to inform not only strategic planning but also district improvement efforts. And then just last week during our um data conversations with our school principles, um
016they now have access to their school's individual data and they will be using their school's data to inform their schoolwide improvement plans as they start thinking about next year. So for all of the pieces of data that we look at at the district level that you'll see today, they have these at their own individual school levels to help with their improvement. And so I'm going to um escape out of here and pull up some results and share with you. So what I'm going to share with you, this will um very shortly be posted on our strategic planning page that we have um on the district website. So you can access it there. But as a reminder, uh the data triangle survey looks at three different surveys for three different groups of people. So students got
017a survey and students in grades 4 through six got a slightly different survey than 7 through 12 as far as wording and language. It's a little simpler. And then our instructional district at school leaders support staff, they all got a staff and experience insight survey. and then our families and community members had the opportunity to do the partnership survey and every single group if you took the survey you got questions aligned with what they call these four areas or these four constructs. So instructional support and feedback helps answer the questions from everybody's different perspective depending on what your stakeholder role is on how effective teachers are in providing instruction, learning support and feedback to students. And then in the second construct they get questions around how well does the school motivate, challenge and engage students
018in learning. Then in the third area, what is the impact of school climate, safety, and staff student relationships on students? And then the fourth one, student experience and well-being. Ask questions around how well do students feel supported, connected, and included in school. And so here are the total number of responses that were included in our district-wide data. At the um elementary level we had 1,682 responses and at the secondary level we had 2,176 responses. Um and then you can see from staff uh we had breakdown by teachers, school leaders, support staff and district staff. And then our parents and guardians and our grandparents or caregivers or other community members. There were over 5,000 responses but some were removed because they didn't have enough to them to be in count to really be valid and be
019counted. So, the ones that were actually included in our data set were 4,888 responses um that were included. >> How is that compared to last year or the last time we did this? >> Uh it's three times more. >> I was thinking, >> yeah, it's a lot of responses. So, we were very happy with that. As I mentioned, they give results based on average favorability percentages. Um these results are not normed or compared to anybody else. they're just our kind of raw results um when we look at the data but they are grouped in three different categories. So if the average favorability is less than 50% and I want you to remember that when we start looking at the graphs because there'll be a line there that shows 50. If they're less than 50 they're
020considered a potential risk and they're labeled as an area for growth. anywhere between 50 and 75, that's considered an emerging strength and it's labeled as a developing practice. So something that's in place but not fully in place and so you want to keep growing that so that it becomes a strength. And then anything above 75 as an average favorability is going to be listed as an established practice or an asset. Those are things that are in place that um are working well and those things as we think about strategic planning are also things that we want to figure out how we can maintain so that you don't go backwards with those established practices. So I know this one might be a little hard for you to see. It's even smaller if I was to print
021it for you. Um but what this is showing up on the screen you have the four different constructs or four different areas. So on the far left you see instructional support and feedback and then you see student learning and engagement, school culture and safety and then student experience and well-being. So that's what's along the bottom on law. Uh on the far left hand side you see the average favorability and so that kind of gray dashed line is your 50% line and then your dotted line is your 75% line. And then each of the colors are different groups of responses. So that if we're thinking left to right, that real blue color, those are your responses from elementary students. The next color, those are your responses from secondary students. Then the light blue color are the
022responses from families. The red color are your responses from teachers. The black color are your responses from school leaders. And then there's a real faint kind of purplish color. That's your district leaders. And then the bright yellow, those are all of the responses from support staff. And this is looking at total favorability in each construct from each of the groups. And so you can kind of see that number one on the positive side, we have nothing below 50 overall, but then you can see variability between different groups within the 50 to 75 range. And then we have a few above 75 range, but the majority of those are falling between 50 to 75, which would be considered um an emerging strength um as a group. So that gives you a look into overall the average
023favorability. And then what we did last night with the group is we started looking at each individual construct and within each construct the different practices that are considered established, ones that are developing or ones that are um potential areas for growth. So we dove in a little bit more. What you see on this slide are examples of questions that were asked and then the average favorability for each question. And so last night with the group, we took time and we went through every single one of these. Um, and this, like I said, you'll have access to this on the website, um, because we're not going to have time to go through all of it right now, but that's kind of what this looks like. instructional support and feedback. Um had lots of established practices, has
024some developing practices. Um and then does not have any areas for growth. So there were no specific questions that scored below 50%. This is the only area that that was like that. So, the others all have some um areas for growth, but instructional support and feedback was our strongest construct as a district and there were no individual questions that were below 50%. So, that was affirming when we think about all the work we do and our focus on instruction. Um, we're not going to go through all the rest of these, but this is the student learning and engagement for group. And you can see there like there are areas for growth um that are listed there. And then the school culture and safety favorability also had some areas for growth. Um, and all of these
025have established practices. They all have developing practices. This is student experience and well-being. and it has a couple of areas for growth as well. So what I want to share with you are the key findings and then we can pause and go back if you have a few questions. Okay. So let me share with you just the key findings and then we'll go back before I go back to the slide deck. Um the key findings um and these all come from the company. So with with our partnership with education elements, they provided this slide deck, they provided these visuals, and this is their interpretation of findings unbiased. They don't know anything about our district, right? So they're only looking at data and things that come out of data. It's our job to analyze what they're
026suggesting and think about within our context, is that something we're not doing? Is it something we're doing but need to do more of? Is it something that we need to do but now is not the right time? I mean those that's what our job but what they do is they just provide from their insight looking at the data what do they feel like are key findings. So in this instructional support and feedback by group overall while staff believe they are providing personalized learning supports and encouraging students to take responsibility over their own learning. Students report different experiences with these supports. And while there weren't any items that fell below 50% favorability, there's still room for growth. So when you look at the bars, the very bottom, you will see each of the different groups that
027took or that responded. And then you'll see the average favorability for instructional support and feedback by group. And they're listed with the highest one down to the least one. So, if you look on the far left, you'll see that school leaders had the highest favorability in instructional support and feedback, and our middle and high schoolers on the far right had the lowest. So, that's how these different graphs are set up. >> Jonathan, what is your what is your feeling that there's such a discrepancy between the two? Well, we when we looked at this with our district leaders and when we looked at this with school principles and when we looked at it last night with the focus group of family and community members, each group has brought out the variance between what our adults think
028and what our kids think. >> And so that is kind of a consistent theme that has come out. And so we've already started talking with our school leaders about how do we get a better sense of how our students are feeling and why? Like it prompts further investigation. You're not going to get your answers from this survey, but the survey prompts some additional actions to better understand why are students feeling that way? What are we not doing that would help support them in some of these areas? Um so th I mean those are the conversations we have. This data is not going to tell us what to do. It's going to prompt us to either look at some additional things and or um you know figure out actions that will get at some of these
029over time. >> Thanks. >> My question was on family. >> It could you single out if they were >> what grade level? Like were they elementary family? because I would my feeling would be that they might be more perceptive than the the middle and the high school kids. >> So, um within within the platform that gives like access for a school principal to see their own results, they can um filter by grade level. Um and so they can look and see by grade level are there variances of responses from families or from kids or from teachers, right? Um this data up here is all families combined, right? So and when you look at it, it makes sense. So like in this example, you'll see elementary students fell about 75 right at the line. Middle and
030high school students, their average favorability is about 62. And our families are right in the middle, right? So you're right. Families perceptions are being influenced by what their kids tell them or what they experience. So that's kind of in the middle. >> Yeah. Or what they don't tell you, right? >> We are we are a mirror of society and what happens at home is going to come to school, you know. >> Yeah. So they're going to they're again their perceptions are going to be influenced by what they do hear like you said, what they don't hear, what we choose not to tell. And so in the area of school safety because that's that's a Oh, okay. We're gonna get there. Okay. All right. >> Um in just a moment. We I mean we can go
031over there right now and then come back >> about what the kids think high school to elementary. >> And one thing I asked Jonathan is >> y'all remember the last time we did this five years ago. I believe we used the fivee survey. >> Yeah. It's been about four or five years since we used five. >> And and that is actually normed. Correct. It's like a measured. Yeah. >> I mean, you can kind of compare. My question was we see this. How does this compare to other districts? And we can't do that. I mean, this is ba based on our criteria only. >> So, we don't we can't really see is this kind of a common for other districts or not, but at least it gives us an idea where we are with our people.
032>> Yeah. Within ourselves. So, back to safety. So in this one, school culture and safety, you'll see that on the far left, the highest favorability were school leaders by far. And one of the things we talked about is the people in a school building who probably know the most about the safety things in place should be your school leaders, right? If they don't, then we have a problem. >> And there's a lot of things that we have in place that sometimes not everybody knows. >> That's correct. >> Right. And so I mean that's that's the same reason why Travis does his executive session safety things with you guys and they're not public, right? So the school leaders having a really high understanding of that is good. Um but then like in this example, you'll see
033elementary students are quite a bit higher than our middle and high school students. They're also higher than our families and they're higher than district leaders. So, within each of the overall constructs of the four different finding reports, you see some variance, um, like up here, you'll see support staff and teachers being almost the exact same. Well, that makes sense, right? All the adults in a building have a pretty good understanding of culture and safety in place. And again, they might even know some things that families don't know, right? to the level of knowledge in those groups, but you still have a discrepancy between how kids are feeling. And to your point, elementary school students feel a lot stronger in this construct than our middle and high school students do. >> And again, our principles can
034see what the feeling is among the people that are at their school. >> Correct. They get to filter to just >> I'm assuming that varies between schools. Yes, >> you're seeing an average districtwide. When you start looking at an individual school, it's going to be very different. >> And I I just kind of believe with the with the high school students, a lot of other things sort of blend in with safety in their mind, just one incident. And for them it's >> and somebody last night at the at the focus group um actually brought that up that our older students are much more aware of things happening in the world around them that influences their perceptions of safety where some of our younger kids they're not as aware of some of the things that happen
035even outside of our district, right? Just news reports and things they hear. um they're just not as knowledgeable >> at their school, but to know it happened someplace else, >> it might just be impacting them. Or again, social media and the things they see on social media are going to be impacting your older kids more than your younger kids. >> This does happen. >> Um I want to go back because we skipped over this one. Student learning and engagement by group. Um, so this one uh looks again different when you think about the bars and where the strongest favorability on the left is and the weakest is on the right. So in this example, our teachers and school leaders um are about the same, those top two bars. And then in the middle you have
036support staff, families, and district leaders all being in the mid60s. And then at the very bottom you have your middle and high school and elementary students being almost the same in favorabilities. And so we've had a lot of conversation about engagement. And there is a pretty big discrepancy between what our teachers and leaders feel and what all of our students feel. And this is the only construct where elementary and middle school and high school students feel pretty much the exact same. And in fact, elementary is even a few, you know, points or a couple of percentage points lower. So this is one we started having a lot of conversation with. The key finding here was that while teachers believe they are providing learning experiences that balance rigor and challenge with engagement, students and parents tend
037to have diverging perspectives, reporting these items as either developing or areas for growth with lower favorability than leaders or teachers. So we have been talking about this one. And then the fourth one is student experience and well-being. And again, you can see at the bottom, they're all shuffled. And this one, school leaders are pretty high, but then the second one from the left is uh your elementary school students, your teachers, your district leaders, your support staff. They're all right underneath that 75% line. And then you have families and middle and high school students. In this area, the key findings were students and families report a need for strong mental health supports, belonging, fun, and engaging activities and student voice. Similarly, staff report a need for engaging students in mental health focused activities that develop social
038and emotional skills to support overall student well-being and growth. So, we have um all of this data. We've already started digging into it and it is impacting our thinking around um priorities. >> Jonathan, can we go back to that last? >> Sure. >> Um so >> does this one right here? >> Yeah. Yep. >> The the um the elementary schools in the county basically have been based on neighborhood type things, not regional uh necessarily. And that and and now we're moving from that model to a more regional concept model. um where they're going to be more students and going to be maybe more difficult to find, you know, comfort zones for those students and >> less nobility rates. >> Yeah. So, um do you anticipate that, you know, what you're doing now will help with
039that process once we start, you know, into those, you know, put putting kids in those schools? Well, we've tasked all of our principles, no matter where they're assigned at working on those things. So, if if you're, you know, the future principal of Placa Intermediate, you have a different lift and approach to next year than maybe, you know, Melrose does. >> But at the same time, Melrose has their own situations when they're building and going to school on the same site, right? So every every leader is really tasked with and and this data quite honestly has brought that to light more so than maybe we had thought >> in just making sure that they're aware of the perspectives and perceptions from their building and the different stakeholders. and thinking about like what are those that that
040really we need to address and this doesn't tell you exactly what to do but at least you know it's an issue and we can now kind of further investigate or learn more about it so that we can put some things in place but to your point I know that Miss Oyster as the future principal of Plaque Intermediate is being very intentional about making sure that all three schools coming together have opportunities to build relationships pulling in staff from all three schools so that people see a familiar face, right? So that kids have people that they're like, "Oh, you were at my old school, right?" Like, so those sorts of things are going to help make the the buildings feel welcoming and comfortable for students. >> Her two assistant principles come from those other feeder schools,
041too. >> Yeah. So I I mean I think I can't say what's going to happen or not happen but it is definitely something that we are talking about to make sure that we're proactive in addressing it >> in the mental health aspect. >> You I'm sorry. >> No, you got Yeah, you're probably going to say what I was going to say. >> Well, we have a roving mental health staff person for those like the two primary intermediate and then like in Crescent City and I don't I don't is that how does that work? I don't I don't know specifically because that's not my department. Um but one of the things we talked about is when you think about student experience and well-being. If your child needed something, was it there? If your child didn't, do
042you know that it exists? Right? And so if your kid really needed mental health support and it was there, then you have a positive perception of it because you needed it. But if my kid never needed that, I might not even know that it exists. Right? That's right. >> So, we have been having conversations around like our famil family's perceptions of the family response is pretty low and we were kind of wondering like why don't families know that things exist because I think that our mental health counselors and our team do a great job of trying to get to all of our students and there's a lot of them but they and they work hard >> but again if you didn't need that support it might not be on your radar and so you're answering
043these questions kind of like well I don't know and you might be more neutral Right. Um, so yeah, I I can't answer your question specifically about what staffing looks like, but um, I feel like when families need things, they, you know, we try to have those supports available when they're needed. you know, we had, you know, had a discussion, it's been several board meetings ago, um, you know, about the mental health aspect and the numbers, how they're climbing, uh, every year and and yet like this year and of course the budget hadn't passed yet in in the legislative process, but it looked like they were, you know, reducing the funding for mental health and um, you know, unfortunately um, you know, that kind of puts focus the focus in forces the the districts to, you
044know, kind of take up the mantle from that standpoint. And, you know, we do have incredible mental health counselors and they do a phenomenal job and they are, you know, swamped. I mean, um, and and you you understand that even more so if you understand the demographics of the county. >> Yeah. And I mean, even the average favorability of parents at in the mid60s, like it's still an emerging strength. And that's really important to remember that none of these overall now specific questions, some of them fell below 50%. But the overall average favorability in these constructs were all above 50 from every group. Um, and so we have a lot of really good things in place. Um, they're not necessarily assets or established, but they're things that are on their way. And that's kind of
045something that we talk about too to make sure that we don't go backwards and remove things that are working that um might send us the wrong direction. >> And see the mental health aspect is still fairly new. So most parents would not know what to ask uh uh uh even if that is a concern or they know it is a concern. they may miss all the signs that this child may need this because it's it's new. It it is new. >> Yeah. And if you haven't had that opportunity to learn those things, then >> they don't know what to look for. They don't know that this is one of the the manifestations or or or side effects or whatever of mental mental illness that this child needs someone to look into it school would be
046their point of contact you know >> and then even they are limited >> you see what I'm saying they they may know some things but it's it because it's fairly new to us >> you There there was a time when when when no one would tell you that my child is is uh having uh a mental issue because immediately they thought crazy. >> So it's it's our culture and where we are moving. >> Well since 2018 it has really >> right been just before co and especially right there in CO and they're saying >> and after the Margie Shman Douglas is when the funding really started. Mhm. >> Yes. >> I'm worried about the funding and what the state's going to do. It's it's the biggest mess I've ever seen in my life. I would
047have never dreamed it could be as crazy as it is with St. Lucy County and Union County. And you look at the state can't find $70 million of money at, you know, you talk about an audit somewhere and >> 47 million. >> 47. and they're down. Oh, they're only down to around 50 million now. So anyway, you know, and then you look at a school that can't provide something. Well, >> where's the money? >> But you you you think about programs in the past where initially the state puts all this money there and then after what two three years now you have to, >> you know, support it and make sure it stays afloat. But you got to have it. You got to have it. But I'm not giving you the money. It's >> whatever's
048politically popular. And and this will it'll change and it'll impact academics at some point. I don't know when they're going to try to declare failing schools because I've seen that happen back when they started grading the schools. They had to declare failing schools to with Jeb Bush to follow the Texas model that his brother had. And and I you know I like Jeb. He came to town. We took Mosley from an FDA. But I mean that they'll get out of the dollar signs and get into the instructional stuff just so they can show different. You know, you're not getting the job done. So you've got to do more. I mean I You all understand. >> I get it. Yes, I do. >> It's a game. >> Yep. Um, I want to spend our last few
049minutes together sharing with you a draft structure for our future plan and you're going to get a chance to give some input using your your voting cards um on some language for priorities. So, the draft structure that I'm proposing will have priorities in our plan. Those priorities will include an insight statement that helps stakeholders um understand why that's a priority and kind of what the outcome is um from that and then that will be followed by actions that are updated annually. The process we've had in place where we look at the actions annually has been very helpful for us as a district because it makes sure that our plan does not become irrelevant. Um so that process works because every summer we kind of look at the things we accomplished. We look at our data
050and we identify new actions for the coming year. So I think that having some priorities, insight statements into those priorities and then actions is a is a solid but more simple structure than we have now. And some of that has come out of our work with the FADS cohort and just trying to make it simple and not too complicated. And then proposing that we continue tracking um our progress over time using key performance indicators. We may add or remove a few of those, but some of those are district grade components that we will continue to track. Our key performance indicators are ones that really we can track with official data um so that people aren't questioning that we made it up. It's all coming from state DOE official data. Um and then the action reports
051that we do every year are a nice way of documenting the things that we've accomplished as a district. Um and those would be aligned to each of the priorities. So that's the draft structure that I'm looking at creating as we move through the next few months and actually putting the plan together. draft priorities. Um, so we have been looking at all of our data sets. We've been looking at the survey responses um from our stakeholders, including the open-ended survey responses. All of the open-ended responses are not included in the slides that you saw. Um, those are strictly from the surveys. Uh, and the the liyker scale ratings. We've been looking at the input from our different focus groups. So when we thought about that protocol where we had strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, we've analyzed
052all of those different uh focus group input tables of all the things they came up with and the priorities they came up with that um with some other groups in that activity. Once we had a chart full of all the different strengths, I would send a team up there to figure out how to prioritize those. And then we do the same thing with the weaknesses and the threats and the opportunities. So, we're going to take a look at some wording of potential priorities. These are draft. These are not necessarily the ones you're going to see. Doesn't necessarily mean they're in this order or that there's a certain number of them, but I want to start to get a sense of, and we did this last night with the family and community focus group. I want
053to start to get a sense of what resonates with people when we think about the language we use. because whatever we say are going to be our priorities are going to be the things that we talk about all the time and that we align funding and support and other things too. So you have your cards. This is only for the four B four board members that are here. Um but you have your one and two cards. So I'm going to give you examples of possible language for priorities and there are six different ones and I'm going to have you vote. And so when we look at the first one, we know that there is an issue with some engagement. We talked about that from the survey results. So one or two, which of these phrases
054as a priority resonates with you the most? >> Consistent. >> It has to be one >> has to happen every day. >> Okay, here's the next one. One or two? Well, I kind of what I'm my deal is Jonathan is that a safe supportive environment is the same thing as a safe supported classroom. But >> but I'll go ahead and hit hit it with a number. >> When I see environment, I see my child moving from his classroom to the cafeteria to PE. Everywhere my child goes on that campus, I feel like >> including the classroom. >> Yes. Included. Right. Right. No, the class included. but everywhere he or she may go. >> Is is that the way you interpret it? Because that's not what I inter I mean this is this is not about
055me. This is about if you are somebody looking at our district and you say, "Oh, these are the priorities of the Putham County School District. What's going to resonate and make sense to people or what's going to confuse them?" That's kind of where language is important when we say these are our priorities. So you can you can tell me what you think, but this is this is really about what you feel like is a is the right language to use when we talk about our priorities as a district. And there's no right or wrong answer, but >> as a as an administrator for for years and teacher and everything else, you you want to know that your entire student body is in a safe, supportive environment. Whether that's if talks going on in the neighborhood
056that kids are going to bring gun to a school that law enforcement is going to find out, the principal is going to know, they're going to have somebody investigating or or even to the learning that the kids are at grade level or above. So, I don't know. That's it's just a play on wording. >> So, you don't think environment includes the classroom? Is that what you're saying? >> Well, to me, it's it's kind of like what David is saying. Um, the environment is all-encompassing. It's and it could even, you know, be at home. You know, we how do we help, you know, our kids from an envir, you know, we we have programs. So, it could be all-encompassing, but when it boils down to it, >> the majority of the time that that a student
057spends is in the classroom. And and at least I can tell you from my kids and my grandkids, you know, having that safe, supportive environment, especially the teachers make such a huge difference that to me that that's a priority. I'm not saying the other's not a priority, too. you you could interchange them either way, but to me for the time those kids are spending in that classroom, if they've got they feel good and comfortable and supportive, that's where you're really going to make some some u gains. I think >> yeah, you can get a vote. Yeah, >> that's good, too. Probably >> having attended now a whole lot of expulsion hearings. Yes, >> Miss Gillard, I will tell you one room that probably appears in our expulsion hearings more than any other. It's the bathroom,
058>> not the classroom, not the hallway, not the home. And it's been a shock to me to learn that for instance, it's a marketplace >> for exchange >> for exchanging >> what >> weapons, >> fight weapons, whatever, >> drugs, and it's also a staging area for fights. Now, may not be what the books say, but come to the expulsion hearings. Am I wrong? >> He's right. I've I mean I've drug a lot of fights out of >> and they know about these are scheduled. This isn't I just happen to get there and you and I have all this is actually waging bets on you and I going at it and who will win >> and they know that >> and paying the money. >> It's problematic to put cameras there. I mean, that's probably mean,
059you know, probably >> not under adult supervision. >> And we know it's the truth cuz a mother said the child comes home with plenty of money. >> She said that. >> So, I'm going to bring us back to I'm going to We've had lots of good conversation, but I need a final vote. One or two? >> My vote is >> Yeah, I'll >> Hey, we >> All right. one. >> Here's theme C. One or two. >> Sounds like an eye exam, doesn't it? >> And and I'll tell I'll tell why. >> I want to go with number one. >> Wait till everybody >> But I've got a reason why I would go with number one. Well, I know you guys have reasons. I also know I have to be done so we can have >>
060But but I the majority of our parents from church understand stewardship and they understand finance. They may not fiscal operational responsibility. you know that may well but financial and operational stewardship they I don't know >> for me fiscal fiscal is is a word that encompasses financial when you're dealing with >> our parents though >> we're fiscally constrained we're fiscally or we fiscally have plenty of money we don't you know it's just a kind of a play word same word >> in in in essence of time do you want us to not debate things and just go ahead and vote I I'm letting you debate a little bit, but we will have to stop. All right. >> Okay. I'm done. All right. >> Oh, >> well, and it's not going to be just based on you
061guys. I know you want it to be, but >> we did it. >> We don't want it to be. So, we we won't be able to pass the book then. >> No, we we did it last night with the focus group as well, and so that was an interesting conversation with them. >> All right, let's do theme D. That's not fair. I'm gonna have to go with one. >> All right, we got two more theme E. >> Oh, I love I love that one. All of us love the same one. >> Yep. You know, >> theme F. I'm I'mma go at one. >> All right. So, again, like I said, these are just starting to get a sense of language in our draft um priorities. Um and we'll get feedback from our principles. We'll get
062feedback from other stakeholder groups as well. And then we'll, you know, kind of figure out where are the ones that really resonated the most. And there may be some that end up being combinations of some of these or um, you know, ones that come right off the the screen. Um, but this kind of at least us at least at least gets us along the path of identifying what those priorities will be. And so I want to wrap up with you by just sharing a few of the next steps. Um, like I said, after engaging with stakeholder groups, we will finalize the language of our top priorities. And I don't know how many there will be, but we'll have a few. And then we will write draft insight statements for each priority. Um, outlining why it
063is a priority and what we want to accomplish in three years. And then we'll start to identify those year one actions that will address the priority. And so following that structure of priority, insight statement, and then actions for each one that we we land on keeping. And along the way, our communications department will start creating graphics and kind of creating that visual structure of what that looks like. Um, our family and focus group, um, family and community focus group. Last night, I gave them the option of of being done if they felt like they had had the opportunity to give feedback and input. Um, they've been just a wonderful group. Um, thoughtful. They ask wonderful questions. Um, and they've prompted me to to do some things for them that they wanted and and it's it's
064nice having a group like that because they only know what they know, but they want to learn more and then as I share things. So, I gave them the choice. Do you want to meet once more? Um, or do you want to be done with this? and they all wanted to meet in June. So, we're going to come back in June and review um the the final draft and then our goal is to bring that to you uh in July for final approval as a completed plan. So, we have just a couple of minutes. Are there any further questions? I felt like the workshop format today would give us the time um and discussion that we needed versus during a board meeting, but I wanted to give you a sense of where we're at and
065give you an opportunity to have some conversation and provide some input. But what other questions or needs do you have? >> Any questions to the board? >> Even in the even in the modern facilities, you're going to have restrooms. And Mr. Hullman is right. If you can get out of sight and they know where the the blind spots are, they'll they'll use them. So, >> and this didn't just start. >> No, I think you said we'll be they'll be voting on this and this will go into effect July 1. Is that correct? >> Um, they'll vote on it in July. It'll go in into effect for the 26 27 school year, but it won't be ready by July 1. I mean, it we'll have a draft, but it won't be approved by July one. And
066you and your committee are to be commended for for digging deep in the hedges and and and and pulling out the things that would help our district that would you know even showing everything whether it was good, bad, whatever you you focused on it and and you have your magnifying glass. You >> know, I had a chance to look at all three of our strategic plans since 2016. >> Yes, sir. And the the first one, I don't really think we had a lot of involvement, if any, from stakeholders. It was pretty much here it is, y'all vote on it. And there's a lot of stuff that was driven by the district. And the the second one was really a heavy lift. I mean, that's when we did our branding, our values, our vision, mission statement,
067portrait of a graduate, and all that. And we did that was a lot of groundwork that we did not have to do this time. But this one is I think a little more uh you know really focused on our all of our stakeholders a lot more so. Don't you think? >> Yeah. I I think I mean last time we were also trying to do it right in the middle of a pandemic. So I think this time we've had even the number of survey responses and you asked about those early Miss Pickkins. um the number of survey responses are almost triple what we had that first time around. So, which is great. I'm glad that people are letting their voice be heard. >> That I say that's what I was going to say. I just feel
068now the the community, they're coming to grips with the with the idea of the fact that you really care what I say or what I think. Just like you said, they ask you, we've done this, will you do this for us and come back? You could have very easily said, "Ah, no. I'm gonna put it on, you know, kind of cruise." But you said, "Okay, we'll come back." And they are on it. And it gets around word of mouth. They say, "No, they listen to you. They hear what you have to say." And it makes a difference. So, we're growing together. >> I agree. >> Well, we've gone full circle back to grassroots in the educational process. and take another I don't know where it's going to wind up from here, but I the state
069will come in use this information and try to declare some type of crisis in the schools. I hope I'm wrong, but I've seen too many things, >> but we'll keep plugging at it, won't we? >> We're going to keep trying. That's >> We are very resilient. >> Yeah, I think um I've been involved in a lot of strategic plans, not on education, but land use and planning and the whole environment. Um, this is excellent. I mean, I think that you and your staff and um, certainly the the community group have have really done a good job and um, and even though maybe on one we disagreed, I think really our consensus is pretty unanimous in that. And uh, will Linda get a chance? Will you get a chance to talk to her? I yeah, I'll
070connect with her and I can um I can give her the opportunity to give her input, okay, >> on that and take her through that because I don't want her to feel like she missed all of this. >> Miss France, >> did I miss it? Did you tell them that your pres >> It's It's not there yet, but it will be. Yeah. I just have to get with Felicia um and get it up there. >> Okay. >> Right. They can look at that, right? >> Don't let them Don't let them take Jonathan to do this training in other school districts. You keep him here. Okay, >> that'd be nice. >> He's not for sale. >> Not for sale. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Jonathan. We'll uh adjourn the workshop and y'all can
071get drink of water, bathroom, and we'll start back at 3:30.