During my first 120 days as Academy District 20 (ASD20) Superintendent, I will focus on goals within four specific areas: student achievement, district governance, stakeholder relations and organizational effectiveness.
While working toward goals within each of these four areas, I will also work to ensure clarity around BOE expectations, ASD20’s systems, and the district’s teams. Ultimately this will ensure a successful transition.
1. Student Achievement
Goal: Research and promote student achievement for all students.
2. District Governance
Goal: Work alongside the Board of Education to establish strong board/superintendent relationships.
Goal: Ensure we are effective with the District’s Policy Governance Model.
3. Stakeholder Relations
Goal: Research and promote public commitment, trust and confidence through open, honest communication.
Goal: Identify potential barriers to improving student achievement and closing achievement gaps.
4. Organizational Effectiveness
Goal: Study the organizational effectiveness to support positive effective work environments and a positive district-wide climate that inspires a focus on student achievement.
Student Achievement
Goal: Research and promote student achievement for all students.
60 days: July – August
Review district and school level data for all student populations, look for trends and patterns in achievement and identify successes and challenges.
Conduct an academic review and analysis to ensure that the instructional curriculum, practices, and programs are aligned vertically and to state standards.
Gather evidence that this instructional system is effective in improving student achievement, growth and closing achievement gaps.
Review district programming for special populations including students with disabilities, multi-lingual learners, and high-performance learners.
60 – 120 days: August – October
Review performance and success of technology integration and its effective use in the classroom.
Assess the professional development plan for its capacity in effectively training principals, teachers and support staff, especially in relationship to MTSS and PLC processes.
Develop a sense for the degree that professional development is embedded in schools and having positive impact on teachers’ instruction in the classroom.
Assess effectiveness of new teacher mentorship programs.
Review the inventory of tech-based instructional equipment and software to determine the use of blended learning opportunities, online curriculum versus textbooks, adaptive software, etc.
What are the patterns of usage regarding the implementation of technology as tools to enhance student learning?
Where are the successes and challenges?
Conduct a retreat in August with district and school-level leaders.
Review the district’s Board Ends, priorities, objectives, and achievement data.
Determine if there is alignment or evidence from the data that the major improvement strategies in the District Improvement Plan are working to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps.
Establish quarterly meetings to do continual reviews of this information and to identify the supports needed by building level administrators from the central office.
Review processes for analyzing data district-wide and how these processes are used to construct school and district-wide strategic improvement plans.
Look at current systems designed to display data. How are data dashboards being used? Are there improvements that could be made?
Research and promote key celebrations and rituals at district and building levels to acknowledge and honor teacher and staff accomplishments, above and beyond contributions and exemplary performance leadership. Establish or re-enforce processes for promoting celebrations throughout the year.
120+ days: October – November
Research and implement a district-wide data-based continuous improvement model that highlights student achievement, growth, and gaps using a data dashboard.
Use this data dashboard when meeting with principals to support their leadership within buildings.
Share data as appropriate with the community.
Research and promote public commitment, trust and confidence through open, honest communication and identify potential barriers to improving student achievement. (There may be a need to re-culture the district’s vision and strategic priorities.)
District Governance
Goal: Work alongside the Board of Education to establish strong board/superintendent relationships.
Goal: Ensure we are effective with the District’s Policy Governance Model.
Pre-entry
Submit an official entry plan to the BOE for feedback suggestions and approval.
30 days: July
Meet with the BOE president to determine what type of professional development the BOE has had in the past and what are their interests for the 2023-2024 school year.
Align professional development to the district goals and objectives for the year and develop a potential plan for the 2023-2024 school year.
Discuss and identify a format and agenda for Board retreats.
Establish regular meeting times with the BOE president for reviewing and constructing BOE agendas.
Schedule at least two individual meetings with each Board member for one-on-one conversations to deepen relationships and broaden perspectives.
Establish communication systems with the Board including forms of written communication, phone calls, texts, meetings.
60 – 90 Day: August – September
Hold a potential BOE retreat and review the Academy Policy Governance Model. This retreat could include discussing communication protocols, roles and responsibilities, general expectations for the first year and team building activities. We could also review or identify shared values and the vision for organizational effectiveness.
Review the BOE calendar to assess for continuity in BOE processes, governance and the election cycle.
Stakeholder Relations
Goal: Research and promote public commitment, trust and confidence trough open, honest communication.
Goal: Identify potential barriers to improving student achievement and closing achievement gaps.
First 90 Days: July – October
Develop a plan for both external and internal Listening Tours.
Strategically connect and build relationships with key community and educational members by asking stakeholders to identify what is working and what needs to change.
Gather data from these conversations and identify patterns and themes. Use this information to determine what type of re-culturing may need to occur concerning the district’s vision and strategic plan.
Review all possible sources of data related to climate and culture including any parent/teacher climate surveys. Are there connections between climate data and the achievement/growth data with students?
Review BOE meeting notes posted from the past two years (to gain a historical view).
Meet with members of my immediate team and BOE members to ask them about strengths, challenges and what may need to change.
During individual meetings with BOE members, I would get recommendations on who to talk to within the organization and community to gain their perspective on needs and values. I would then develop a strategic year-long plan in how to meet with these individuals on a regular basis throughout the year.
Plan with district and school leaders for the opening of the 2023-2024 school year all-staff celebration.
Start with a listening tour and then establish routine communication and meeting protocols with below groups. Some of these community entities would include:
Key regional and community corporations and businesses.
Community leaders from entities related to El Paso County, Air Force Academy, City of Colorado Springs, etc.
Local healthcare leaders
Academy District 20 Education Foundation
Nearby community colleges and universities
Not-for-profit philanthropic leaders
Community service organizations
Faith organizations
Chief of Police and Fire Chief
Community media outlets (I would follow a communication protocol for regular and urgent communications)
Regional politicians (Perhaps have a legislative subcommittee with BOE members who are interested.)
30-90 days: July – September (Internal)
Meet with leaders from every central office department and ask, “What is going well? What are the challenges? What changes should we consider? What do you need from me?” Use their input to determine how Cabinet meetings will be established and the type of format that will be most useful to the team.
Meet with principals and their leadership teams and ask, “What is going well? What are the challenges? What changes should we consider? What do you need from me?” Establish routine meetings, communications, and feedback loops with these teams that could be used throughout the year.
Meet with teachers and classified groups and ask them the same questions as above. Establish routine meetings and communications with these groups.
Meet with student leadership groups. Ask the same questions and establish feedback loops and routine meetings with these groups.
Meet with established parent organizations like DAC, BAC, PTA, PTO, Booster clubs, etc. and ask the same questions. Establish routine times to visit these groups.
Be present during the first week and months of school at parent nights, back to school nights, opening day or week events, and walk through classrooms with principals. The goal is to meet and build meaningful relationships with staff, students, and parents.
Work collaboratively with the BOE to develop and strengthen district -wide parent committees, and potentially set up a Superintendent Parent Advisory Committee that would meet with me quarterly for information dissemination, parental feedback, and increased community engagement.
Plan a listening tour out in the community for groups of parents who may not traditionally attend a meeting that is held at schools or the central office.
30 – 90 July-September (External)
Review the district’s overall communication plan for information dissemination from the district office including the use of websites and social media.
Review district, school building and department websites and social media outlets for accessibility, convenience, and usefulness.
Review the protocol used for communication with local media outlets. How are regular verses urgent communications implemented?
Organizational Effectiveness
Goal: Study the organizational effectiveness to support positive effective work environments and a positive district-wide climate that inspires a focus on student achievement.
30 Days: July
Review any studies, reports or audits done by outside agencies related to operational departments.
Meet with the directors of operational departments and identify strengths, challenges and what may need to change.
60-90 Days: August – September
Establish a schedule to meet with the human resources director and review personnel performance evaluation systems. What is going well? What needs to change? What are the current reviews on key leaders in the system? Are there staff that need additional supports to be successful, and what is already put in place to help them?
Analyze centralized processes and school-based processes. Determine what goals, expectations, and directives make up the “tight” side of the systems and what “loose” areas of autonomy are at play. What may be promoting or hindering academic success for all students or smooth operations at school sites?
Review the current adopted budget and funding streams for supporting district operations. How are decisions made in the district regarding budget? What is tight and loose between central office and schools related to budgeting, revenues, and expenditures?
Is there a need for a mill levy override? If so, when would we consider this action?
Review the connections between operational departments and their support of student achievement. Lead efforts to help all staff in the organization to recognize the importance of their efforts.
Analyze enrollment and population growth projections within Academy 20 boundaries. Establish or support the efforts of the Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee and be proactive in future facility needs.