Supporting greater student success and safety

Our first mandate as a school district is to educate. There are many things we do well, and also many opportunities for growth and adaptation.  It is imperative that we give students new paths to find their passion and access the curriculum. We need to foster more collaborative team teaching with a foundation in empirical evidence for improved student outcomes both by an academic metric and by a social emotional metric. We need to offer our students alternative pathways for success that include more CTE options in addition to the standard A-G requirements.

​Safety is a top priority for all students and families in the district. Like most important weighty issues, this deserves a well vetted comprehensive multi-layer plan that is sustainable and effective, including a layered perimeter, access control, monitored CCTV, enhanced emergency preparedness for our students and staff. What is predictable is preventable.

Elevating district-wide stakeholder accountability

Now is the time to redefine who we are and who we want to be. This begins with setting expectations and an overall tone for how we interact with each other at every level. Accountability is a critical component of measurable success, and when utilized properly offers excellent opportunity for support and training as well as a springboard for increased responsibilities. My vision is to foster an environment that allows for more ownership of duties. It is also imperative that we implement a more proactive and thorough vetting procedure of issues prior to making decisions, and review the efficacy of the outcome in an ongoing manner.

Establishing fiscal stability

To right the ship and regain public trust, the district needs to implement oversight and a strategic plan that includes:

• Maximize use of the Finance committee to thoroughly evaluate the benefits and pitfalls of financial decisions before they are made rather than in hindsight. 
• ​Implement a general ledger for real time fiscal visibility.
• Create quarterly department review to ensure purchase order projections are neither inflated or underestimated.
• ​Examine alternative methods of more efficiently spending our tax dollars.
• ​Streamline procedures, procurement and general business office functions to ensure uniformity and consistency.
• Evaluate the similarities and differences between our district and comparable school districts that account for the dynamic disparity in annual per student spend.
• Implement formula-driven best practices for staffing and position control related to hiring.​​

Ensuring collaborative leadership

True success is achieved as a team.  This means creating positive paths to partner with administrators, staff, students, parents, teachers and with the City. We are stronger together. We are better united.

         To realize this vision, Tristen will lead initiatives to promote solution-driven thinking that is focused on making our schools exceptional by offering a multifaceted, scalable, and lasting framework for educating our students, keeping them safe, and building for future success. We will work together to upgrade our programs (including curriculum) to better prepare our students for the fast-changing global economy. Specific areas of focus will include, innovative programming for college and career readiness, fostering a collaborative environment, developing meaningful methods of accountability to measure the success of these programs, streamlining procedures, procurement and overall business functions and utilizing a communication platform that will help keep the community informed of progress.