Case Study: Arcadia Unified School District achieves broad, efficient LCAP engagement with ThoughtExchange

Accessible LCAP Engagement Allows District To Do More

Arcadia Unified School District, a 10,000‑student district in southern California focused on high academic outcomes, faced a challenge engaging a highly motivated but time‑pressed parent community — many families had work and family commitments or lived far from in‑person meetings. With California’s LCAP requiring broad, accessible input, the district needed a way to involve parents, staff, students and community members beyond traditional daytime meetings.

Arcadia used Thoughtexchange to run one inclusive engagement process, gathering 1,309 participants who contributed 2,325 thoughts and assigned 81,865 stars. The platform saved months of outreach, boosted staff and stakeholder participation, made in‑person meetings more productive, informed site‑specific budgeting and accreditation work, and increased transparency — a process the district now repeats annually.

Arcadia Unified School District

David Vannasdall

Superintendent