For generations, the Upper Arlington community has played an integral role in supporting the success of Upper Arlington Schools and its students. As we seek to prepare the next generation for this rapidly changing world, it is critically important that our schools adjust and adapt to meet the needs of our students today and tomorrow.

In February 2022, the Upper Arlington Board of Education launched a community engagement process to listen, learn and lead in an effort to help Upper Arlington Schools be the best it can be — for many years to come. Since then, nearly 1,700 students, parents, staff members and community members have taken part in the process.

The intent of the “Listen Learn Lead” process is to honor the community by providing multiple options and opportunities to listen to all voices, learn from what was heard and use the community’s feedback to lead the school district into an even brighter future.

In March of 2022, the Board of Education launched the Listen Learn Lead process with a series of seven community roundtable discussions offered between March 9 and March 31. Through a “world cafe” style process, more than 350 of students, staff members, parents and community members engaged in discussions and documented their feedback on topic areas stemming from the district’s strategic plan: our district’s strengths; whole learning (academics); student and staff well-being; finances; and communications. 

The next step in the Listen Learn Lead community engagement process was an online survey based on the themes that emerged from the roundtable discussions. The survey was open to parents, community members and staff members, and there was also a student-specific path of the survey. There were more than 1,300 responses to the survey during the window from April 27 through May 11, 2022. 

Following the completion of the survey window, a briefing report outlining learnings based on all of the data points from this process was shared with the Board of Education at their June regular meeting. Although specific action steps are not outlined in the report, it will serve as an important guide for the Board of Education in determining future plans for the district.

Listen Learn Lead Briefing Report

Upon reviewing the briefing report at the June meeting, the Board of Education asked district administration to prepare an action plan based on the findings of the report and present it at the August regular meeting. Below is a link to the report that the Board of Education approved at their regular meeting on September 13, 2022. 

We encourage parents, staff, community members and students to share their thoughts on the Listen Learn Lead process through the form provided below. 

As the Board of Education shared when launching the Listen Learn Lead initiative, this is a first step in an ongoing commitment to engaging our community. Please look for more details to come in the future!