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Goal 4: Progress Updates


Read the current year Strategy 4 updates below, or read previous updates in the accordions labeled by year.

Report 2: February 10, 2025

The Student and Staff Mental Health & Wellness Supports committee has met four times so far this year on September 10, October 15, November 26, 2024, and January 7, 2025. The committee will meet at least two more times before we wrap up the goals for 2024-2025. The committee continues to focus on the primary goal of this committee for Year 3 with creating an annual Mental Health Committee data report to be given to the board that will include data on discipline referrals, percentage of students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 on the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) screener, and number of students that participated in the a risk assessment, staff opportunities for and participation in wellness activities, student and staff absenteeism.

At the beginning of each committee meeting the belief statement, goal and accountability measures are reviewed. Team protocols that were established to guide the work of the committee are reviewed prior to each meeting. The committee selected the following: Trust and contribute to the process, be respectful to everyone’s time, stay positive, be respectful, and be kind. Additional values are agreed with kindness, be a polite listener and speaker, and create a safe place. This is important as diverse perspectives must be expressed and valued.

An educational moment is shared at the beginning of each committee meeting to encourage learning and understanding of a variety of components supporting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Social Emotional Growth (SEG). During the third committee meeting in November, the committee participated in an activity,
“How do you know”? Examples of student written expression on paper and a drawing were examined, discussed, and outside of context could be examples of internalized and externalized behaviors that could be potentially harmful to the student or others. Upon evaluation and investigation, the words were lyrics to a song that a student was listening to, and the picture was a student drawing a picture of his family snorkeling. Following the discussion in October, administrators and social workers do not have a district screening tool to initiate the investigation of encounters such as this. This educational moment demonstrated situations that are common in our schools today.

The committee started deconstructing the annual goal based upon the areas established in the goal were discipline referrals, percentage of students in tiers two and three based upon the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Screener, students participating in risk assessments, participation in wellness activities, and student and staff absences. Considerable discussion, follow up and discussion focused on this process. Some critical points that were determined via the committee included:

  1. Data needs to be consistent in data source and collection to guide processes and accountability.
  2. Data should not require in depth collection, analyzation, and conclusions, but rooted in our student and district collection methods used for state and federal reporting and accreditation for the district.
  3. Seek to strengthen and improve areas in need of additional tools, resources, or procedures to improve student and staff outcomes.

Deconstruction of the goal continued from November into January. Student discipline data should be consistent and collected through Skyward following typical processes set forth for annual reporting. The concern for reporting in May is that this data is not collected and finalized until June. As the committee examined other areas, timelines are not in sync with the annual reporting of data to the Board of Education unless it is one year in arrears, or the report deadline is changed. Another example was the district report for participation in the Wellness Committee which was completed in October. New information will not be available until October 2025. This is an area that will require more discussion before a recommendation can be made.

The Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Screener that will measure SEG will be through Character Strong, which is the newly implemented SEL curriculum. This measure will be consistent in collection districtwide, but again, data will not be readily available until June 2025 for the school year. The area that continues to garner significant focus is that the district needs a districtwide risk assessment that is inclusive of internalized and externalized behaviors and structures for consistent reporting. The new Panorama Education program is a vital tool in the collection of data, which will allow for evaluating trends and outcomes in many areas but is not inclusive of highly confidential student data such as this.

During the month of January, considerable discussion emerged following the data regarding the low participation of staff wellness, which was reported as 20% in October 2024. District staff expressed concerns about workload, “extra” work, and expectations that are expressed with intensity such as addressing student performance outcomes with students received from open school boundaries, struggling students, and absenteeism. It was noted that while the district tried to remove some items off the plate, the new state mandate for LETRS training increased the workload significantly with time away from the classroom, creating substitute plans, and homework for the training, in addition to often reteaching information from being out of the classroom. While many new initiatives are good, the time and stress are being felt by staff.

Lastly, it was determined that student and staff absenteeism can be collected, but once again, this information is not typically collected and analyzed until June. There were expressed concerns regarding how to track the absences of staff regarding earned time off and designated family, emergency, and medical leaves. Further discussion is needed to establish a recommendation for consistent reporting of information. This committee continues to have strong diverse attendance with different perspectives.

Continued focus with overall goals, learning, and discussion will continue to further this committee towards its year end goals.

Report 1: November 25, 2024

Strategy 4, Student and Staff Mental Health & Wellness Supports committee has met two times so far this year on September 10 and October 29, 2024. Membership of this committee consists of 46 individuals, including students, parents, classified and certified staff, BOE members, and community stakeholders. In addition to the dates listed above, this committee is scheduled to meet four additional times to complete the tasks to reach committee goals on November 26, 2024; January 14, 2025; February 25, 2025; and April 8, 2025. Additional dates will be added if needed. The primary goal of this committee for Year 3 is creating an annual Mental Health Committee data report to be given to the Board that will include data on discipline referrals, percentage of students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 on the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) screener, and number of students that participated in the a risk assessment, staff opportunities for and participation in wellness activities, student and staff absenteeism.

The first committee meeting included introductions, a belief statement, and accountability measures were reviewed. Team protocols were established to guide the work of the committee during the year. The committee selected the following: Trust and contribute to the process, be respectful to everyone’s time, stay positive, be respectful, and be kind. More values are: Agree with kindness, be a polite listener and speaker, and create a safe place. While the committee has a single goal this year, the committee discussed the purpose of the goal, which is to determine important data markers that will be used to demonstrate improvement in mental health and wellbeing. Guiding questions for the discussion included why the data was needed, what needs to be in place to collect data, what is missing or needed to collect the data, and how will the plan be created to meet the goal.

During the second committee meeting in October, team protocols were shared and the Educational Moment focused on a video clip, KINDNESS as shared through the newly implemented SEL curriculum, Character Strong. The committee briefly discussed the video clip and district staff shared insight of the curriculum implementation so far this year. The committee will collect and report out the data. A tabletop activity, Deconstructing the Goal, was the main activity for this session as the group split into groups of four to complete a graphic organizer. This was used to assist with breaking down the goal, seeking common language, determining what information is needed, and tools needed for measurement. Additional areas that emerged through discussion included risk assessments and the importance of districtwide tools, consistent protocols, and follow through. The committee will continue to examine suggestions made through meetings regarding the development of possible recommendations.

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