District launches student, staff and parent voice focus to guide school improvement

Dr. Van Damme Jackson presented a district initiative to center student, staff and parent voice as a recurring focus for the 2025–26 school year. The initiative will gather quarterly, topic‑focused conversations and panels — including student panels, parent groups and staff PLCs — to collect qualitative feedback that staff say better informs improvements than survey data alone.
District staff said the initiative will complement Kansas Communities That Care survey results and that staff plan to use both quantitative survey indicators and targeted conversations to inform changes in instruction, curriculum selection, student supports and policies. Jackson cited past changes informed by student panels, including vaping interventions and adjustments to a career‑readiness course schedule.
Staff said the district will ensure questions and topics are appropriate for each audience, will invite parent participation via PTOs and site councils and will provide advance notice of topics so participants can prepare. Staff described a plan to use listening stations at parent‑teacher conferences and building plans for local implementation.
Board members asked about parental involvement for sensitive topics and whether parents would see questions in advance; staff replied they will share questions and gain permission when topics could require parental involvement. The district said the Kansas Communities That Care data showed Derby below the state average on the “empowering student voice” indicator and that the initiative aims to improve that measure by emphasizing structured, multi‑stakeholder feedback.