Clayton Educational Priorities Discussed at Forum

parents, educators and other community members met Monday morning to discuss their ideas about the mission and vision of the city's school district.

The event—the second of three such meetings—happened at and included participants such as Dr. Sharmon Wilkinson, superintendent of the , City Manager Craig Owens and Mayor Linda Goldstein.

The sessions are intended to help a visioning committee hone the district's mission, vision and core values. Collectively, . Committee members will report their findings to the Clayton Board of Education on June 13, and the board is expected to adopt the new directives in the fall.

Education has undergone significant changes in recent years, so the Clayton community must ensure the needs of its students are met, Wilkinson told attendees. The guidelines will also serve as a yardstick in evaluating the district's progress over time.

Craig Larson of Kansas City-based Patron Insight spoke about a recent phone survey that his company conducted as part of the CLAYTON360 process. The company made more than 3,000 phone calls to get a random sample of 400 interviewees. Of those participants, 122 had students in the school district.

Among interviewees' priorities:

• Mission: Maintain a focus on the individual needs of students

• Vision: Recognize the unique capabilities and needs of each child, prepare students to be successful adults, create leaders in a global society

• Core values: Teacher and academic excellence, integrity, fiscal responsibilities.

After initial remarks, attendees of Monday's meeting broke into small groups to discuss their thoughts about the district's mission and vision.

Among participants' thoughts at one of those tables:

• The ideas suggested in the phone interviews don't look much different from what the district already believes or tries to achieve.

• Lifelong learning is an important skill to emphasize.

• Integrity is a key value, as is fiscal responsibility.

• The individual needs of students should be integral to the district's mission.

• Developmental needs should be tapped into as early as possible in a student's life.

• Teacher excellence is a pretty important part of district life.

• Community involvement is a factor. Parents must take some level of responsibility for their children.

• The district puts a lot of focus on making sure gifted students have educational getaways and get to work on special problems.

• It would be ideal if all students could have an individual learning profile that outlines how a student learns best (for example, visual or auditory learner) and explains the student's strengths.

• Parents can't go to a meeting without administrators comparing Clayton High School students' test scores and other achievements to those of students at John Burroughs and other St. Louis-area schools. But there needs to be more concern from teachers about the middle 80 percent of students.

• There needs to be a higher sophistication about learning and student development among teachers. Student ability is fluid, it isn't a fixed value.

• The district must help foster a sense of grit and persistence among students so they don't feel like shutting down when something they are learning doesn't come easily at first.

• The district should facilitate more events involving parents within academic and social contexts. A school might buy a bloc of tickets to a theater performance, for example, and encourage family sign-ups to help parents make connections.

• Students often display a fundamental lack of character. The district needs to set a tone of respect and discipline. Kids shouldn't be mouthing off to teachers or texting during class.

• The district is an academically traditional one, though it self-identifies as innovative and cutting-edge. There is a disconnect between what it says and does in the area of technology.

• There should be an acknowledgement that there are many ways to define and celebrate success with regard to academic excellence. There is a perception that getting a scholarship to a state college in Missouri is a failure. The district should celebrate when a student gets accepted to a trade school, for example.

The last of three community forums this month is planned from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the commons.