Case Study: Mountain View Whisman School District achieves solution-focused, community-wide school safety planning with Thoughtexchange

Getting beyond emotional reactions to talk about community solutions for school safety

Mountain View Whisman School District faced a surge of safety concerns after national school shootings put the community on edge. With emotions running high and competing demands—everything from fencing to arming teachers—district leaders needed a way to surface real concerns and move a town hall conversation from reaction to constructive planning.

The district partnered with Thoughtexchange to run a moderated, confidential online exchange that invited students, parents and staff to share and rate ideas; 900 people participated. The process revealed priority themes (facilities, student connection, mental health, planning), shaped the town hall agenda, and produced a more focused, solution-oriented meeting and a better informed, broadly supported action plan.

Mountain View Whisman School District

Ayindé Rudolph

Superintendent