Batavia School Board adopts 5-year strategic plan, diversity goals addressed

The Batavia School District 101 board voted to approve a strategic plan, outlining the district’s priorities over the next five years on Tuesday, June 25.

The plan lists as priorities: enhancing teaching and learning practices, fostering inclusion and belonging, and operational excellence and resource stewardship.

The motion passed with only one of the seven board members, Danielle Sligar, opposing.

Sligar raised concerns community members required more time for adequate participation and feedback in the plan-making process. Board Secretary Sue Locke scoffed at that notion saying their email inboxes have been empty of public comments since the last board meeting in May.

“I just don’t think you are going to get any more feedback; this has been going on for months,” said Locke.

Sligar responded the planning has only been made public since May, during the beginning of summer break and graduation season.

“Not everybody in the public understands what is happening [here],” Sligar said.

Last summer, the board met with new Superintendent Tom Kim to agree upon a refreshed strategic plan for the district. A steering committee comprised of student ambassadors and district staff representatives, and vision session leaders consisting of 61 students from fourth-12th grade levels helped guide the outlining of specific goals to be included in the plan.

Progress towards the goals will be monitored through biannual reports to the board. According to the plan, a new data dashboard with agreed upon metrics and priorities will be created and updated with each biannual report and listed on the district’s website.

The board said it believes this is the best way for public transparency and accountability and to assess if any policies need to be reviewed or revised throughout the duration of the plan.

As part of the priority to enhance teaching and learning practices, evidence-based literacy programs will be implemented across all grades and project-based learning and real-world problem solving will be increased into the curriculum.

When we set these metrics and see how we are doing, we should see how we are progressing and be willing to change our efforts.”

—  Rob Arulandu, Batavia School District board member

The plan also calls for college and career pathways utilizing adaptive technologies to meet diverse student needs. The plan implements professional development focusing on curriculum, equity and cultural competence, with feedback systems to enhance student and teacher improvement.

The district will measure goal progress through various metrics including, achievement test proficiency and subgroup achievement gaps, including race/ethnicity, gender, and English language learners.

The district will also monitor subgroups — such as racial/ethnic groups, students with disabilities, socioeconomic status, gender identity – in their course and program participation rates, and post-secondary experience, including dual credit, career pathways, and college readiness.

As part of the priority to improve inclusion and belonging, the plan calls for social-emotional learning programs and equitable learning environments. This includes conducting regular equity audits and developing action plans to address disparities and increasing engagement with community organizations.

Among the metrics used to measure these goals are survey scores, extracurricular participation rates, safety and bullying incident rates, family engagement scores, and new diversity hire and employee retention rates. The plan also calls for recruiting and retaining a diverse teaching staff.

Sligar cautioned the plan may not fully address concerns students and parents have brought to the board’s attention regarding allegations of bullying and discrimination students of color have faced. The plan also may not fully meet difficulties English-language learners face in adapting into the school’s community, and the lack of equity and inclusion among school organizations and athletic programs, she said.

“Are those vulnerable groups being served with this?” Sligar asked. “Is this going to serve the [issues the community] have brought to us?”

Board member Craig Meadows said he believes the community can help fill-in gaps that may be in the plan or raise any red-flags along the way. He said the plan is a great foundation from which to progress the priorities and goals of all parties involved for the district.

Board member Rob Arulandu echoed those sentiments, fully endorsing the plan with the readiness for embracing any necessary changes along the way.

“I don’t think we are going into this thinking this is a perfect plan, but it needs to be dynamic, we need to be able to course correct,” Arulandu said. “When we set these metrics and see how we are doing, we should see how we are progressing and be willing to change our efforts.”