At the Dec. 17 board meeting, trustees approved the district’s 2020-21 goals and performance objectives, and board members voiced their satisfaction with the plan.
"I've been on the board for six years, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this," President Jim Dossey said.
The first goal focuses on assessing individual student achievement in academic performance, with performance objectives set in student growth; closing the gaps; and college, career and military readiness, Superintendent Beau Rees said.
“Our kids are performing well, and we want them to continue to grow and continue to raise that bar,” he said.
For the second goal—safety and security—Rees said the district will enforce policies and procedures to ensure the staff is trained in safety and mental health of students. The district will also provide active shooter training as well as safety and security audits in every campus each year.
The third goal is related to finance, and Rees said the district will set its fund balance to be 20% of its overall budget.
The fourth goal is to improve external and internal customer service.
“The first objective would be looking at compensation and benefit plans for our employees, which will be reviewed annually to make sure we are comparable and competitive with surrounding districts,” Rees said.
Rees added the district will provide stakeholders with “effective external communication” on a weekly basis throughout the school year.
This follows the recent football hazing investigation, which highlighted parents’ and community members’ frustration with the district’s lack of communication. Multiple parents spoke at school board meetings and voiced frustration.
"I ask that you at least communicate with us, because it is very frustrating not to know what's going on," said Jeanne Poulton, a mother of an MISD student, at an Oct. 15 meeting.
MISD officials did not indicate if the goal to improve communication was related to recent events.
