School strategic plan sparks questions, concerns

Apr. 25—Chandler Unified School District Governing Board Member Kurt Rohrs says he is worried that the district is straying too far from education and trying to do too many other things.

"My question is about the social services that we engage with the students," Rohrs said during an April 10 study session. "Are we going to become a full-on social service organization for kids and families, or is there some limit to that?"

The topic came up as district officials were discussing changes to their strategic framework, something they try to do about every five years.

Superintendent Frank Narducci responded to Rohrs: "I think we already are, because we have to. We have to look at their social, and emotional and academic growth, and all of those go hand-in-hand as the whole child.

"I would think that our strategies are already in place, I would think we would just support and enhance our strategies versus adding more to it."

Rohrs responded: "Well, what I was getting to is that social welfare, there's

so much to do there, I would agree with you. Are we going to get so entangled with that that we start losing focus on the only thing that we do in the community, which is academic development? That's my concern."

Abby Druck, the district's director of human resources, professional pathways, led the discussion on updating CUSD's strategic framework. Narducci said district officials have been working on the update for two years.

What they came up with was four main goals. They are: Learning Experiences, Community Engagement, Innovative Organizations and Culture.

In each goal, the district has established objectives. For Learning Experiences, the objectives are: meaningful and innovative learning experiences, essential skills and develop successful community members.

In Community Engagement, the goals are: fostering family engagement and cultivating reciprocal community connections.

In Innovative Organizations, the goals are: empowered staff, data-driven allocation and prioritization of resources.

There is only one objective for Culture: welcoming, inclusive and restorative learning environments.

That plan was presented to the board as an information item. It will return on a future agenda as an action item. If it is approved, the next steps are to finalize key performance indications, identify the metrics they will use to gauge their progress in achieving the goals and development of "learning walks."

A learning walk is basically a deep dive by district officials and staff charged with implementing the goals.

"That's every director, every assistant director, all members of the superintendency, our coaches will be involved with these walks to have a better understanding of what our students and our teachers are working through with the strategic plan, and the feedback loop as well," Narducci said.

A couple board members were concerned the language was too complex for the public to understand.

"That's my No. 1 frustration," Joel Wirth said. "If you really want the community to understand what you're talking about, somehow you got to dummy it down. Somehow you just simply got to simplify it."

"That's why the goals and objectivesare pretty much just common language," Narducci told him.

"That's common language I just saw?" Wirth asked.

Jason Olive agreed, stating, "It's a little harder to follow if you don't do

it every day."

An example of the language used in the objectives is the first one presented, which is "meaningful and innovative learning experiences":

"Teachers intentionally use research-based instructional strategies to cultivate rigor, relevance and real-world learning experiences so that each individual student can pursue and achieve their own path to success.

"Students are empowered to be an active decision maker in their educational journey. Teachers and students innovate, take informed risks and learn through practice, as they regularly adapt, adjust and explore new ways of learning."

President Barb Mozdzen wanted to make sure enough voices were heard in coming up with the strategic framework. She was told most district employees had a chance to give their thoughts.

"So, at some point, all 5,200 staff members have had an opportunity to view it, touch it, give some feedback," Druck said.

"I think that is absolutely fantastic that you have been able to do this," Mozdzen said. "There has always been the idea that when a strategic plan comes down from the top, it's a strategic plan that the people who are actually having to implement it do not feel connected to.

"By getting input from a huge group of people, diverse group of people, this becomes a living document. It's not a plan that is stuck up on a shelf."