On Tuesday, April 8, the ISD 200 School Board hosted a Community Collaboration Committee meeting to discuss the latest draft of the district’s strategic plan. Built from data collected in the Fall 2024 Satisfaction Survey and a November 2024 community input session, the strategic plan lays out the district’s priorities and goals.
At the meeting, residents, community members, and teachers alike were asked to place dots on the core pillars from the April draft of the strategic plan that they thought were the most important. By a large margin, attendees cited Academic Excellence and Equity as the most important, with 138 dots. Next, Staff Support and Retention and Safe and Respectful Learning Environment were functionally tied with 80 and 81 dots respectively. Finally, Effective Operations and Communication and Collaboration were tied with 26 dots each.
The neatly tiered core pillars clearly showed what attendees wanted from a strategic plan with a specific focus on Academic Excellence and Equity. That clarity was muddied however as attendees were asked to provide feedback on the strategic plan’s Core Pillars and Strategic Anchors, Core Value Statements, and Vision Statement for the district.
Attendees were asked to answer questions on wording for language on the strategic plan, on aspects they believed were missing, and then to discuss those thoughts in small groups. Those notes were collected at the end of the meeting and Superintendent Dr. Tammy Champa shared that data at the April 9 school board work session.

Core Pillars
For the core pillars, community members cited academic excellence and equity as most important, echoing the results from the dots activity. Twenty-six members referenced academic excellence and equity as the most important pillar with the next most frequent pillar cited being staff support and retention with 15 mentions.
Regarding academic excellence and equity, at the meeting, attendees spoke both for and against the inclusion of the term “equity” within the pillar.
Several attendees at the event spoke to getting rid of the term “equity” from the pillar due to academic excellence covering the entirety of the student body.
Former school board member Lisa Hedin spoke to the replacement of Policy 100: Equity and Diversity with the strategic plan saying that the strategic plan didn’t do enough to cover the now-sunset policy.
That sentiment was echoed in what was missing from the core pillars. According to the handout provided by Champa, the number one missing or underrepresented element within stakeholder feedback was lack of equity, inclusion, and cultural responsiveness: “Stakeholders clearly voiced that equity and inclusion are not sufficiently emphasized or are missing altogether.”
Other elements listed as missing from the core pillars included discipline, accountability, and mental health support.

Core Value Statements
Attendees of the meeting cited student-centered approach and compassion and respect as the two core value statements that resonated most with them.
As to what was missing or should be changed within the core value statements, attendees referenced various terms that were ambiguous or unclear. Attendees referenced the term “agility,” suggesting it be changed to flexibility or growth, as well as the terms compassion and respect as broad and lacking specificity.

Vision Statement
When it came to the vision statement, many attendees referenced the unclear grammar of the current statement which is currently separated into three overarching statements: “a caring and inclusive culture for each and every student, that empowers students, families and staff, and focused on achievement and engagement in all we do.”
When asked the question “Do the vision statements inspire confidence and excitement for the future?” attendees’ responses were largely positive, but referenced issues with wording, wordiness, and length of the current vision statement.
Attendess referenced that the vision statement should further emphasize academic achievement and rigor as well as staff support.
At the April 9 school board work session, Champa referenced the need to finalize the strategic plan before the end of the year and before she leaves the district. School board members agreed to review the responses from the Community Collaboration Committee meeting and further discuss a draft of the strategic plan at the May 14 work session.