- Wichita Public Schools
- Listen
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Listen
"I have been part of this district my entire life - as a student, teacher, parent and administrator. However, sitting in the Superintendent's chair provides an entirely different perspective. It is essential that I LISTEN to key district stakeholders in order to understand their thoughts and ideas on our successes, our challenges, and the needs they have looking toward the future."
We Listened, We Learned
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Superintendent Dr. Alicia Thompson held 20 stakeholder meetings of students, staff, parents, community members and business leaders on what the district did well, our challenges and how we can change culture through communication.
You told us the Wichita Public Schools should:
- Challenge all learners to succeed
- Focus on college and career readiness
- Support the whole child
- Invest in staff
- Engage families and the community as essential partners in education
- Communicate to build trust, and
- Align resources and infrastructure to support student success.
Community Feedback
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Dr. Alicia Thompson's Update on Stakeholder Feedback
Presented to the Board of Education on February 12, 2018
At-a-glance summary of what we heard.
A summary of the most frequently mentioned topic areas and responses.
Community Listening Sessions - All FeedbackAll comments from the community listening sessions. Comments are exactly as submitted unless personal identifying information was included.
Listening Priorities
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In the first semester of being WPS Superintendent, I made it a priority to:
- Conduct one-on-one listening meetings with Board of Education members.
- Host individual or small-group listening sessions with district and school administrators, union heads, state-level education officials, and leaders from business, partner, media and faith communities.
- Meet with local and state elected officials, extending the invitation to visit schools whenever possible.
- Host roundtable conversations with teachers, support staff and parents to hear their views on what is going well, what our greatest challenges are and what needs to be in place to support student success.
- Work with the BOE to establish communication guidelines and promote transparency.
- Identify and clarify the roles of the BOE and superintendent, identify goals and share mutual expectations.
- Visit all school and support sites during the 2017-18 school year.
- Attend local functions and key strategy meetings to hear ideas and concerns of those who actively engage in community leadership.
- Meet monthly with Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council (SuperSAC) to learn more about what they value in their education and their ideas for improvement of the Wichita Public Schools.
- Invite the Wichita community to share their ideas and concerns about WPS.
- Schedule regular conversations with union leaders, as well as leaders from the city, county and Wichita State University.
