Dear Peoria Unified,

Thank you. Over the past several months, you have given us your time, your questions and your honest perspective about the work you do every day. Some of those conversations were encouraging, some were hard, but both will make us stronger as a team. Today, I want to directly share Peoria Unified's new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for our Strategic Framework and, most importantly, what it means for you. It lays out what we heard from you, where we are headed together and how we will support you as we move forward as one team.

What we have heard from you

This fall, we sat down with employee groups, principals, students, parent leaders and faith, business and community partners. Your voices came through clearly:

Support the people who teach and serve our students. You asked for professional learning that is relevant to your work, competitive pay, real support for teachers and to hear important news from us first. We heard you, and that support is built into this framework.

Show us how safety works. You want the systems, training and follow-through that keep students and staff safe, so you can focus on teaching and serving students.

Keep student learning our focus. You want the time and tools to deliver strong, consistent instruction and to help every student find real options after graduation, from a solid start in reading to a path toward continued education, employment, entrepreneurship or enlistment.

Where we are headed together

The new KPIs put Student Success at the center, supported by four priorities that work together. Each priority has measurable goals, and each one depends on the expertise and dedication you bring to our schools:

Student Success: Grow proficiency in English language arts, math and science by 3%. Have at least 98% of third graders meet Move On When Reading requirements. Keep our graduation rate above 94% and help more students earn industry certifications and diploma seals. These are goals we will reach together, classroom by classroom.

Learning & Teaching: Professional learning will be built around what you tell us you need. Together, we will work toward 80% of core instruction rated “evident” or “very evident” for research-based practice, and 90% of classrooms using our adopted curriculum as designed.

Safety & Wellness: Every campus will have the training and systems needed to complete its required drills, and we will report on our success monthly. Together, we will raise the share of students who say they feel safe from a baseline of 60% toward 80% over five years and tackle chronic student absenteeism, which is currently at 21%.

Stewardship of Resources: We are investing in our people. Our goals are to pay base salaries at or above the 75th percentile of comparable Arizona districts, retain at least 90% of our certified staff and maintain at least 56% of spending for student learning in the classroom.

Parent & Community Engagement: We will support every school in holding at least three meaningful engagement events each year, and we will work toward at least 75% of our families recommending their school to another family looking for a school for their child.

These are ambitious targets, and they should be. Our students deserve high standards and rigorous goals. No one meets goals like these alone. We will meet them as a team, and we are committed to giving you the support to get there.

How we are moving forward as a team

Setting goals only matters if it changes what happens in our schools, and much of that work is already being done by you:

Working groups of educators and leaders are defining best practices for core instruction, early literacy and numeracy and English learner support. Our Gifted Task Force is shaping gifted education for the future, starting as early as next year.

We are moving all campuses toward more instructional time focused on English language arts, math, science and social studies, in alignment with best practices, and we will support you through that shift.

We will continue to expand the training for staff in de-escalation and crisis intervention as well as identifying grooming behaviors, and we are preparing to share with the Board and the community which campuses will have safety design concerns addressed in 2026-27.

Our Citizens Advisory Committee, made up of community members and staff, is developing facilities recommendations for the Board to hear in December.

We will continue to share our spending analysis with the Board in December and May.

School leaders are increasing two-way communication with staff, families and the community, and we are committed to making sure you hear important news from us first.

Each time we listen, we will follow up about what we are hearing and what we are doing about it. Not every suggestion will be implemented, but we will show you how your input shaped our work.

These are OUR goals. Please keep telling us what is working, where you need more support and where we can do better. Talk with your principal or supervisor and stay connected.

Trust is earned by what we do for every student, every day and by how we show up for one another. Thank you for the work you do and for moving forward with us as one team.

With gratitude,

Tahlya Visintainer

Interim Superintendent, Peoria Unified School District