A Message from the Superintendent

Emporia Community

When we think of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in our profession, what typically comes to mind?  Of course, your thoughts quickly go to things like Graduation Rates, State Assessment Levels, Safety Records, Social and Emotional Measures, Parent Involvement, and Student Behavior.  But what if we began to also consider TRUST as a KPI and gave it the same focus we do these other, more common, measures?  

We know that trust is something that is built over time, incrementally, decision after decision, and action after action.  I truly believe trust is fostered through the act of “doing what you say”.  Your actions and behaviors must match what is coming from your mouth…so to speak.  There is a saying that an ounce of mistrust is worth an ocean full of trust.  What is meant by this saying is that it only takes one instance of violating one’s trust to undo years of earning it.  

And trust in an organization can have such an amazingly positive impact on the work we do and the success we achieve.  When we tell the “whole truth and nothing but the truth,” people learn that they can trust what you are telling them; they grow to trust you with their truth in return.  This is the only way we can ever have the open two-way communication that is necessary for us to create a culture of continuous improvement.  To continuously improve, we have to expose it all, the good and the bad.  No one expects us to be perfect, but what they should be able to expect is to know our successes and our failures; our strengths and our challenges.  Only then will they be there when we need them to help us overcome whatever we are facing.  

There is a lot of talk about the work of the Cost Containment Team these days.  What I want you to trust about this team’s work is that it is transparent and open.  Each of the 80 members will have an equal opportunity to help shape the course of action that will lead to financial sustainability for our school district.  I could have sat in my office at MHEC and come up with ways to save money, things to eliminate, opportunities for greater efficiency, but THAT would not have been a process focused on trust, or one that ensures the best solutions.  

Instead, we are involving representatives of those impacted by the decisions.  When I ultimately make recommendations to the Board of Education about how to reduce our anticipated expenditures by more than $2M, I want that to be the result of a process that built trust, a process that resulted from a variety of opinions, and for it to be a list of recommendations that have been prioritized by a diverse set of district stakeholders.  

Our declining enrollment and its impact on our state revenues is something that cannot be ignored.  Of course, not all of the recommendations that come out of the process will be popular with everyone.  But, I do hope that the process we use and the way we go about the implementation of any recommendations coming from the team will result incrementally in developing the trusting culture that will be necessary for USD 253 to be the very best district it can be.  Everything we do should have this Key Performance Indicator of trust at the forefront. 

Below is a link that opens the file related to the Cost Containment Team’s work.  Here you can see everything the members of the team are seeing during their meetings.  I encourage you to spend some time perusing the data, looking at the meeting slides, and staying familiar with the process as it moves toward recommendations in early 2026.  Thank you for all of the support you give to Emporia Public Schools and the students we serve.  We couldn’t be successful without you!

Dr. David McGehee

Superintendent, Emporia Public Schools

Use this link to access the Public Cost Containment Team Meeting Folder