D21 school board hears superintendent goals for 2023-24

The goals, Bernal said, are specific to the day-to-day work of the school district, with the first goal being to monitor and support the district’s 2023-25 integrated guidance plan.

According to the district website, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) implemented an integrated guidance initiative in 2022, requiring Oregon School districts to undergo a comprehensive needs assessment and application process in order to continue receiving funds from six key grants, with the intent to “streamline the grant application process while aligning strategies to provide better outcomes for students.”

Part of the Integrated guidance plan, according to Bernal, include five Longitudinal Performance Growth Targets (LPGTs) by which the district is measured, which consist of third grade reading proficiency rates, ninth grade on-track rates, four-year or on-time graduation rate and five-year completion rates.

“Our integrated guidance team worked with ODE to set our targets and for each LTGP, we have a baseline target, we have a stretch target and then we have a gap closing target for our specific focal groups,” Bernal said.

According to Bernal, the goal will be measured by Oregon Statewide Assessment System (OSAS) results, the district’s “At-A-Glance” data report located on the ODE website, and local performance data. Bernal also said that she would be meeting with site administrators to set goals targeting certain LPGTs, and holding monthly data professional learning community meetings (PLCs) with the district leadership team. According to Bernal, there will be a baseline, trimester one, two and three data review held at during a future school board meeting or work session.

“Student achievement data is a top priority focus area and it is embedded in the district’s 2023-25 integrated guidance plan. It is also embedded in our 2027 strategic plan as well as our 2023 school board goals,” Bernal said. “The goal setting with administrators will be completed no later than the end of November 2023.”

The second goal set by Bernal is to monitor and support the district’s 2027 strategic plan, including the 2023-24 — or ‘Year Two’ — identified priorities. The strategic plan was first developed during the 2021-22 school year with the purpose of giving the district a “clear sense of direction and purpose of the future,” according to the district website.

The five priority areas identified in the plan include student experience, teaching and learning, community engagement, staffing and facilities. Each year, goals relating to these priority areas are set by the superintendent to be focused on throughout that school year.

“Some of the work in Year Two is a roll up of Year One, some priorities from Year One have been carried over into Year Two,” Bernal said.

Like goal one, goal two will be measured through OSAS results, the district’s “At-A-Glance” data report, and local performance assessment data. The goal will also be measure by survey work “including any results analysis that we complete,” Bernal said.

According to Bernal, some of the Year Two priorities will be embedded in the monthly data PLC and leadership team meetings, with 2027 strategic plan updates being presented to the board.

“Year Two priorities continue to remain a top priority focus area, and again the work of the strategic plan is also embedded in our 2023-25 integrated guidance plan as well as align to the 2023 board goals,” Bernal said.

The last goal presented by Bernal is to work in collaboration with the school board to update and sign the superintendent-board operating agreement. According to the Oregon School Board Association, operating agreements are tools “used to define the specifics of board and administration responsibilities, governance principals, roles, responsibilities and expectations of individual board members, the board as a whole, the superintendent and the administrative team.”

According to Bernal, the agreement is currently due for review, and requires a signature from her and all the board members. “We have two brand new board members, so we want to bring them into the fold of that work,” she said, “working with the board to edit and update our current board operating agreement and providing more detail on topics of board operations that may be covered in the policy, as well as topics that may have caused issues for the superintendent and the board over the previous year.”

Once signed, the agreement will be posted publicly on the district website, Bernal said, and will be posted no later than March 2024.

After the presentation, Director Jose Aparicio expressed appreciation for Bernal’s commitment to the strategic plan. “Lots of times those things, as we all know, can just end up on a shelf and you don’t look at it again,” Aparicio said. “We’re actually utilizing it on a year-to year basis, so I just want to say I’m appreciative of that and [the] continued effort on it.”

Board Vice Chair Judy Richardson echoed similar sentiments, saying, “I love that we’re aligning with board goals and superintendent goals and district goals, and hopefully student goals.”

The entire Nov. 16 school board meeting can be viewed on the District 21 Media channel on YouTube.