Sounds boring. Sounds
like a really thick book that sits on the shelf.
Truth is, we don’t have one.
Truth is, I think we need one. Not a big book that sits on the shelf, but a
real well designed, goal oriented, data driven plan that guides all of our
decisions.
Don’t get me wrong, we are doing quite well in Calvert
County Public Schools. Student achievement
is great – our high school PARCC English Language Arts scores are the best in
the state. But, like any organization, there
are still many areas in which we can improve.
- The needs of a diverse student body are growing.
- Accountability measures are tightening.
- Limited resources are seeing ever-increasing competition.
- All students are not achieving at a high level.
So, there is much yet
to do.
This time of year we are working on the budget for next
year. Each school submits its requests
for money. Sometimes they ask for more
than usual for a new project. Each
department submits its request for next year’s funding and sometimes proposes a
new initiatives – new textbooks, new staff, new equipment, new training,
etc. Are the new projects and
initiatives aligned with the districts goals?
Are they in response to some new state or federal mandate? Are we making sure each new expenditure is
tied to our big picture plan? How will we measure its impact? We have many choices. Decisions need to be made from among almost
limitless options.
Richard Winwood
said, “Planning is a process of choosing among those many options. If we do not
choose to plan, then we choose to have others plan for us.”
So, over the next
6 months, we will embark on a journey, guided by a firm called District
Management Council, of developing a Strategic Plan.
This experienced
consulting firm will assist us in analyzing our data. They will conduct stake holder interviews. Through a district steering committee they
will help us define our goals, develop priorities, determine what success looks
like, develop action plans, get stake holder feedback on the work of the steering
committee and draft a detailed action plan.
When all is said
and done, it is our dream to have a plan that we can all point to with pride. It will define student success for Calvert
County Public Schools. It won’t be in response
to someone else’s needs. It will be all
Calvert County – a special, one-of-a-kind, no place like home school district.
We will refer to it
frequently. We will report on and
discuss our progress regularly and we will make modifications as the environment
changes. Such a plan will assure Calvert
County Public Schools will always be one of the best school districts in this
United States of America.