School district sets five priorities for its strategic plan update
Five priorities have been chosen to be among the strategic plan refresh for the School District of Lee County.
Those priorities include preparing all students for life after graduation; enhancing a safe learning and workplace environment; recruiting, developing and retaining high effective staff; strengthening student, family and community partnerships; and improving internal operating systems.
Some of the objectives within the priorities include increasing the percentage of students who are achieving in all academic subjects areas across all student groups; increasing college and career acceleration pathway participation and performance across all students; increasing student positive perceptions of classroom and schoolwide culture; increasing recruitment of effective and highly effective employees; increasing student voice, choice and ownership of learning experiences; and increasing the cost effectiveness of services and impact for expended funds.
Justin de Leon, with Education Elements, said the first year is about aligning and launching the plan, followed by acclamation in the second year.
By October, the district will launch, monitor and adopt the plan.
The third year, refinement will showcase the success or indicators of success, while the fourth year is stability, de Leon said. The fifth year goes back to envisioning.
Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said he is very excited about the opportunity. He said the next steps are to take those large broad objectives and identify data and develop formulas.
“Thank you for helping me understand what a world-class system is, a standard of excellence and that is what we are shooting for,” he told the board. “We are always searching for having the very highest standards and that is being a world-class system. It seems so broad, but really (when you) start talking about it, it sets a wonderful standard in the way this organization is supposed to operate.”
Bernier said it is important to have that measurable piece, that monitoring piece to develop scorecards to let the community know what it is they want to accomplish.
Board Member Cathleen Morgan said they did not have a scorecard with the strategic plan.
“We weren’t transparent (about) what we were trying to accomplish. We never had a cadence. The critical piece going forward is the scorecard and the cadence,” she said.
Board Member Sam Fisher said although they have a very good playbook, his biggest thing is to continue to implement and run the offense of the strategic plan.
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