Trustees of the Riverside Unified School District said they wanted to prioritize school safety, community engagement and data-driven results during a workshop discussion about setting goals for the next five years.
“Integrity, trust and transparency are really important to the community,” Board President Noemi Hernandez Alexander said at the March 19 meeting. “I would like to be able to articulate the commitment…we have to maintain the trust of our families because we acknowledge how valuable their children are.”
The meeting was one of the first steps the district has taken to update its Strategic Plan, which outlines the district’s long-term policies and objectives. Two representatives for the consulting company Baker Tilly said they planned to survey the community in the coming weeks. A final draft is set to be presented to the board for adoption by June.
During the workshop, the consultants led the board through an initial planning session to identify values, weaknesses and goals they believed should be prioritized within the updated Strategic Plan.
The trustees agreed that the tagline, “Be Extraordinary,” should remain, along with the six core values: community, engagement, equity, excellence, innovation and well-being. Several trustees said the district should also emphasize the need to foster community, with Trustee Brent Lee adding he wanted to focus on bringing student voices to the forefront.
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“I do think that’s really important, because a lot of times, I think some students do feel a little unheard,” Student Trustee Daniel Capacete said in response. “I think having that as a foundation for the district as a whole would be very beneficial.”
The board also agreed that there were growing safety concerns along with a decrease in belonging emerging from its campuses that they would like to tackle in the coming years. Trustee Dale Kinnear said he felt the district should adopt a data-driven approach to improve outcomes.
“If we don’t do that, we’ll never be results oriented,” Kinnear said. “We have to focus on results, whether it’s students being connected to school, or whether it’s increasing our achievement in English and math.”
A community forum is scheduled for March 30 at Central Middle School, 4795 Magnolia Ave., to gather input on what residents feel the district should prioritize over the next five years.
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