Mon Sep 10 2012, 6:00pm
September 10, 2012
Regular Meeting

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Strategic Planning and Goal Setting Workshop Followup

On Monday, August 13 the board spent 1/2 day engaged in strategic planning and goal setting.   On Wednesday August 15 Mitch Everton, the facilitator who worked with the board returned for review the attached documents.  As well, notes that follow:
 
Hi Michael:
 
Please find attached my notes from the Board's strategic review, incorporating the SWOT and Statement of purpose.  I have put this in bullet form for easy reference.
 
The more substantial document is the first draft of the mission statement and goals developed through the Board discussion.  I started with the Board's mission verbiage, the five goals they agreed on, and the specific points of focus within each goal.  Comments for your review:
 
1.  I took another swag at the Retreat verbiage, providing both the original language, as well as an alternate version for comparison.  A couple of thoughts:
 
  • A sense of education providing the means to success, in this case the pursuit of excellence.
  • I substituted "life's work" for "endeavors".  We were struggling at the retreat for another phrase--this is more descriptive. 
  • Tying "productive member of society" to "education" by "facilitating their participation."
 
The alternate wording remains concise but I think more illustrative of the Board's intent.  Please let me know what you think on this.
 
2.  Each goal incoporates the focus points expressed through the Board discussion.  Specifically:
 
  • #1:  ties instruction to student engagement, alternate pathways, and role modeling (leading by example), leading to powerful learning.  Success is tied to use of proven tools, training, and classroom support.
  • #2:  a focus on each child and their individual needs via safety concerns, healthy lifestyles, etc.
  • #3:  Tying public trust to effective, prudent financial management, with special emphasis on the high school project.
  • #4:  Compelling and innovative partnerships.  This can be fleshed out in your strategies with internships, job shadow, early learning, volunteer programming, etc.
  • #5:  Effective & transparent communication, with buy-in toward student success, esp. with regard to parent and family outreach--welcoming, inclusive, and relevant.
 
If there are changes required, I can produce subsequent drafts, as needed. 
  
As noted earlier, the next step is to fashion strategies and an action plan around the goals, once the Board has approved the verbiage.  I would be happy to assist this process in anyway appropriate.
 
Thanks for allowing me to take part in your Retreat. I appreciated meeting you and working with the Board.
 
Good luck in the coming school year!
 
Mitch
 
The Goal of this agenda item is to provide opportunity for the board to review the documents drafted by Mitch and discuss adjustments to these as well as next steps.





Attached Files:
Woodland School District Retreat Strategic Review Notes.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 16B
Woodland Strategic Plan Draft Aug 15.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 21B