Optimism by Design: What Was - and Wasn't- asked at Highline's Strategic Plan Meeting

By Lauren Schmidt, Highline Parent

Highline School District hosted their second community feedback session last night, February 3, at Sylvester Middle School. The meeting mirrored the format of the first session, providing a recap of the district’s Strategic Plan and an update on the current budget. Superintendent Dr. Ivan Duran presented the strategic plan, while Chief Financial Officer Jackie Bryan provided a budget update, offering state and federal context for the fiscal challenges currently facing Washington state districts.

The turnout showed a significant increase from the first session, with just over 20 attendees, primarily parents and a few students. Also in attendance were School Board Vice President Angelica Alvarez and Director Dr. Damarys Espinoza.

The Feedback Process

The session followed a structured format where participants were asked to generate "headlines" based on the four pillars of the district’s Strategic Plan:

Culture of Belonging
Innovative Learning
Bilingual and Biliterate
Future Ready

A fifth prompt asked participants:

What should the district prioritize given current budget limitations?

And there were some additional questions provided to help guide feedback:

How do we successfully implement our goals?
What should we prioritize?
How will we know we accomplished these goals?

Attendees first brainstormed individually before moving into small groups to collect and discuss their ideas. At the end, each of the four groups shared the highlights from their discussions.

Community Concerns: Rigor, Literacy, and Metrics

At my table (Table 9), the conversation touched on a broad spectrum of priorities:

Academic Rigor: There was significant concern regarding low proficiency scores, with one participant citing a 30% proficiency rate as unacceptable. Another parent expressed frustration over a lack of academic cohesion between school levels, noting that even "Highly Capable" students felt underprepared for the transition to middle school writing.

Cultural Connections: More opportunities to share and discuss home culture, holidays, and traditions at school.

Literacy Materials: Discussion turned to the need for evidence-based materials for foundational literacy in elementary schools.

More Languages: Parents expressed interest in more language options at elementary schools–including more dual language elementary schools, more support for home languages, more opportunities to be exposed to foreign language even if not in a dual language program.

Broadening Success Metrics: While some focused on test scores, others advocated for the district to look beyond standardized testing to measure student success.

Parent Perspective: A Framework for Progress or a Shield?

As a parent who has recently been critical of the district’s ELA program and materials for foundational literacy skills, I found the entire framing a bit restrictive. Many of my headlines overlapped with multiple buckets from the strategic plan. For instance, the distinction between "Innovative Learning" and "Future Ready" remains blurry at best.

The highly structured nature of the "Headline" exercise suggests a design intended to maximize optimism and minimize critical feedback. By asking participants to primarily "imagine success," the district may be bypassing the very real obstacles and frustrations parents are currently facing. Notably, the session offered no formal Q&A portion or a way to submit written questions to leadership.

We saw a similar limitation in the recent Student Cell Phone Use Survey. While Dr. Duran noted that the district is reviewing that feedback, the survey itself felt narrow in scope, seemingly excluding families not yet in high school.

The Value of Attendance

Ultimately, the most valuable part of the evening wasn't the presentation, but the people. There is immense value in sitting across a table from other families to collaborate. I only wish the district would provide more open-ended opportunities for that collaboration.

If you were unable to attend the first meeting, there is one more opportunity to participate in person. There is also an online feedback process via ThoughtExchange.

Last Community Meeting

February 9 | 5:45–7:15 p.m.Madrona Elementary School20301 32nd Avenue South, SeaTac

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