Superintendent Listening Tour

Theme: Declining enrollment is a concern, but the group wants to understand what is driving it before developing solutions.

Key takeaways:

• Enrollment is declining most noticeably in the early grades, creating a potential downstream impact on future enrollment.
• CUSD needs better data on why families leave, why families return, and why families choose CUSD initially.
• Add meaningful questions to withdrawal, enrollment, and reenrollment processes to capture parent decision-making.
• Determine how much enrollment decline is driven by:
  • Demographics/birth rates
  • Families moving
  • Charter schools
  • ESA/private options
  • Micro-schools/other alternatives
  • Families choosing to homeschool
  • Families choosing other CUSD schools
• Examine whether CUSD is losing students at transition points between preschool → kindergarten → elementary → middle → high school.
• Consider enrollment as a long-term customer relationship, not simply a yearly headcount.
• Recommendation to systematically conduct exit interviews for families leaving CUSD (and survey newly/re-enrolling families) to identify root causes of enrollment decline.

Big takeaway: CUSD needs to move from “We know enrollment is declining” to “We know exactly where students are going and why families are making different choices.”

Theme: Preschool emerged as more than an early-learning program—it may be an important pipeline into CUSD.

Key takeaways:

• Parents see high-quality preschool as a reason to enter and remain in CUSD.
• Families expressed concern about changes to preschool staffing ratios and class structures.
• Parents questioned whether current preschool capacity is unintentionally turning away families CUSD could retain long-term.
• There is an opportunity to examine the ROI of preschool beyond the immediate program budget.
• Consider expanding or strengthening preschool opportunities at elementary campuses.
• Better communicate the distinction between early childhood (ages 3–4) and preschool (age 4).
• Examine whether preschool can serve as a strategic bridge into kindergarten.
• Strong praise for the high quality, affordability, certified staff, and kindergarten readiness provided by CUSD Community Education preschools, along with suggestions to aggressively market the program as a primary funnel for kindergarten enrollment.
• Look at staffing models for early childhood and preschool programs

Big takeaway: Preschool may be one of CUSD’s strongest opportunities to build future enrollment while strengthening kindergarten readiness.

Theme: Families want to feel informed, connected, and confident in their neighborhood schools.

Key takeaways:

• Unpack the decline in the parent climate survey, rather than treating the overall number as a single data point.
• Understand what is driving parent perceptions and identify campus-level differences.
• Some families do not even realize which CUSD school their neighborhood is assigned to.
• There is an opportunity to improve communication around boundaries, neighborhood schools, and the value of attending CUSD schools.
• Parent feedback should become actionable data—not simply survey results.
• Proposal to establish regular, informal Site Councils or Principal Advisory meetings across all grade levels to address minor issues early, improve climate, and prevent silent family departures.
• Requests for clearer communication channels and designated parent liaisons to help families navigate district processes and policies.

Big takeaway: CUSD needs to better understand the parent experience and make it easier for families to know, understand, and value their neighborhood school.

Theme: Participants want CUSD to move beyond maintaining performance and intentionally accelerate academic growth.

Key takeaways:

• ELA and math trends were described as relatively flat over several years.
• Science is showing more positive momentum and may provide opportunities to identify and replicate effective practices.
• Participants want deeper attention to student-level and demographic data, not just district averages.
• The goal should be growth for every student, including students who are performing below expectations and students who are already excelling.
• Strengthen Tier 1 instruction and make Tier 2 intervention more systematic and timely.
• Continue strengthening Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).
• Identify what higher-performing campuses are doing differently and determine what can be replicated elsewhere.

Big takeaway: The challenge is not simply meeting standards; it is creating sustained upward academic momentum for every student.

Theme: There was a strong call to examine student outcomes by demographic group data and ensure resources and supports are aligned to need.

Key takeaways:

• Aggregate data can mask significant differences among student groups.
• Participants specifically called for deeper examination of achievement and graduation data by demographic groups.
• Resource allocation should be examined through an equity lens.
• MTSS and intervention strategies should identify students who need additional support earlier.
• Equity also means ensuring students who are exceeding expectations continue to be challenged.

Big takeaway: “Every child learns” requires knowing exactly which students are thriving, which are struggling, and what each group needs to move forward.

Theme: There was significant interest in ensuring instruction is purposeful, standards-aligned, engaging, and responsive to individual students.

Key takeaways:

• Strengthen the connection between standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
• Ensure curriculum is being used with fidelity rather than simply “turning pages.”
• Use student data to personalize instruction and create meaningful small-group learning.
• Strengthen professional learning around effective instructional practices.
• Continue monitoring whether instructional strategies are actually producing results.

Big takeaway: The goal is not curriculum implementation for its own sake—it is high-quality instruction that produces measurable student learning.

Theme: Parents and educators expressed support for finding a healthier balance between technology and traditional learning experiences.

Key takeaways:

• Participants felt schools may have swung too far toward screen-based learning following COVID.
• Parents noticed positive changes toward more paper-and-pencil work.
• There was support for more:
  • Writing
  • Handwriting
  • Discussion
  • Hands-on learning
  • Critical thinking
  • Student discourse
• Technology remains essential, particularly with AI, but should be used intentionally rather than replacing rich instructional experiences.

Big takeaway: The question is no longer “technology or no technology?” but “What is the right balance to maximize learning?”

Theme: CUSD needs to prepare students for an AI-driven, rapidly changing workforce.

Key takeaways:

• Increase opportunities for students to develop:
  • Critical thinking
  • Communication
  • Collaboration
  • Debate/discourse
  • Problem solving
  • Creativity
  • Risk-taking
  • Entrepreneurship
• Expand opportunities for students to apply what they learn through clubs, activities, projects, and authentic experiences.
• Community and local government partners can play a role in connecting students to the workforce and real-world opportunities.

Big takeaway: Academic proficiency is foundational, but students also need the competencies to think, communicate, collaborate, and adapt.

Theme: Clubs and enrichment opportunities are valuable, but access can vary based on school size and resources.

Key takeaways:

• Smaller elementary schools may struggle to offer clubs because of staffing and funding.
• Title I schools may have fewer resources for extracurricular opportunities.
• Explore ways to create equitable access across campuses.
• Consider partnerships or cross-campus opportunities when a school cannot independently sustain a club.

Big takeaway: A student’s access to enrichment shouldn’t depend on the size or resources of their campus.

Theme: Budget optimization must be balanced with maintaining the quality that families value.

Key takeaways:

• The district needs to be financially responsible while protecting instructional quality.
• Decisions about staffing and programs should consider both immediate costs and long-term ROI.
• Preschool was a particularly strong example: reducing costs today could potentially affect future enrollment.
• Facilities and programs should be examined for capacity, utilization, and future opportunities.

Big takeaway: The conversation should shift from simply “What can we cut?” to “How do we strategically invest limited resources to sustain and grow CUSD?”

• Assessment & Program Access: Concerns that the CogAT test lacks reliability and creates barriers for underrepresented student populations, leading to a lack of diversity in gifted classrooms.

• Parents express concern that current recess allotments (e.g., a 15-minute morning recess and a 20-minute lunch recess in 6th grade) represent bare-minimum compliance with state mandates.

• Feedback highlights research supporting 20+ to 45 minutes of unstructured outdoor play for emotional self-regulation, reduced classroom behavioral issues, enhanced focus, and improved academic retention.