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WELLSVILLE - Wellsville school administrators recently presented their strategic plan to improve academic performance for the next two years.
School Superintendent Kyle Exline and Allison Scott, director of Curriculum and Instruction, followed up their state report card review at the Sept. 21 school board meeting with a presentation of the Wellsville Local School District Strategic Plan 2026-2028.
Scott noted the plan was done on a very tight timeline after she shifted into the curriculum director position and Exline became superintendent over the summer. She said they realized how much potential the district has with the data that they had and that rang some alarm bells that the district needed this plan and needed streamlined and everyone would need to know about it.
Exline said the plan is built around the idea that the district is focusing on every student every day, and that is the district's intent.
The plan is drafted from items in the district's mission, vision and core value statements along with results from stakeholder goals, including academic achievement and equity; climate, culture and wellness; and communication initiatives and accountability flowchart.
Contributors in the development of the strategic plan include Exline, Scott, Director of Special Education Malissa King, Garfield Elementary Principal Shelbie Householder, Daw Elementary Principal Erin Clemmer, Jr. Sr. High School Principal Kevin Parkin; Bethany Carlson, consultant, SST 5 (State Support Team Region 5); Keri Gries, consultant, ESC (Education Service Center) of Eastern Ohio; and Brittany Welsh, coach, ReadOhio.
The presentation began with a review of the district's mission, vision and core values with the mission being to inspire students to be lifelong learners while providing an environment where every student can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally, preparing them to make a positive difference through knowledge, leadership and service.
The district's vision is to be a district where every student is inspired to become a lifelong learner and empowered to thrive academically, socially and emotionally in a safe, inclusive community built on the district's core values of respect, integrity, service and excellence, and preparing every student to make a positive difference.
Exline said the missions and values define the kind of district they want to be, where the district is headed, and the plans show everyone how they are going to get there.
The plan was developed for two years to provide a clear district-wide plan that aligns the priorities, resources and actions to improve the district's student achievement, staff effectiveness and overall district performance, with a shared direction for the district which ensures decision are driven by student data, identified needs and continuous improvements.
Scott noted that the goal for the plan is to establish measurable priorities for student achievement, attendance, instructional practices and organizational improvement for which annual progress will be reviewed through multiple sources to ensure continuous improvement and accountability.
Scott said they arrived at the point of recognizing there was a need for a strategic plan was based on the realignment of the mission, vision and core values and the responses from stake holder surveys, the creation of three goals and putting initiatives in place.
The stakeholder surveys were conducted through social media, several all-calls, Parent Square and Final Forms with 97 stakeholders made up of 62.9% parents; 33% staff members; 2.1% students and 2.1% community partners responding.
The high school drew most of the responses, followed by Daw and then Garfield with some responses coming from community members who don't have children attending school.
The survey results showed that the top priority of the district is literacy, math, academic growth, and overall student achievement. Survey results revealed that for culture, there is a strong desire to improve that area by addressing bullying, student behavior, school safety and student engagement. The survey also indicated a need for stronger communication between schools, families, staff, and the community.
Scott said some of the responses she received from the survey noted that there is a lack of tiger pride of the school doesn't feel like the Wellsville School the respondents attended.
Exline said the concerns would be addressed by an increase in the overall MAP Growth Math achievement from the 52nd to the 61st or high percentile by Spring 2028 with plans to increase the percentage of students meeting or exceeding projected Math Growth targets to 67% or higher and for reading the plans is to increase the Map Growth from the 50th to 59th percentile and increase the percentage of students meeting or exceeding Reading Growth Targets to 65% or higher.
Exline said he wants to see an increase in the percentage of students with IEPs by improving at least 10 percentage points on Ohio State Tests and increase the math and reading performance index for multiracial students and increase the Gap Closing indicator on the State Report Card from the current 59.2% to 67.8% in math and 76.1 % in reading.
Scott said that there is a lot to focus on for teaching and monitoring, including district wide data collection.
Some of the items in the plan under academic achievement and equity include establishing a district wide monitoring process, implementing evidenced based instruction across all grade levels, provide targeted intervention, provide job coaching through ReadOhio and district math coach, providing professional development and more.
Goals for climate, culture and wellness include annual climate and wellness surveys to students, staff and families, the development of district wide expectations for positive behavior and school climate, professional development for staff with a focus on relationship building, trauma, classroom management, student engagement and more and the implementation of a consistent attendance and engagement strategy to address the chronic absenteeism.
Goals for communication include developing a district wide communication protocol, establishing communications expectations and timelines, creating a unified calendar for major announcements and more.
Scott said that the consistency and cohesion runs from kindergarten to 12th grade, so they are not building by building; the initiatives are K-12 initiatives.
The district is working on multiple initiatives to support the strategic plan including explicit instruction for instructional framework, updated pacing guides, universal walk through tool and quarterly assessments. Scott said this will include day-to-day instructions to the classrooms. There are new science supplementals for grades fourth through 12 and updated Math curriculum for grades three through 12.
Exline said the plan includes a responsibility flow chart to ensure accountability for what data sources are used, who is the employee responsible for it, and who is monitoring the responsible employees.
Exline noted there would be additional presentations of the new strategic plan including a through a social media video, so the whole community is aware and has a chance to be familiar with it and review it.