Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year to everyone in the School District of the Menomonie Area.
As families prepare for the holiday season, it is likely that in many cases, plans are being set based on a variety of important factors. With a limited amount of time, energy, and resources available, decisions about travel, meals, gifts, and other holiday activities are often prioritized to best meet the needs of family members, maximize the holiday experience, and carry on traditions passed down from generations that help define the family.
Similar to how some families get ready for the holidays, our school district is also planning ahead. Over the course of the next several months, the School District of the Menomonie Area will be engaging stakeholders in a process designed to create a new strategic plan.
During The Great Conversation of 2012, school district leaders conducted seventeen different listening sessions with over 500 members of the community. This collaborative work led to the adoption of a new district strategic plan which school officials have been using for the past five years to help align district resources with community expectations. A tremendous amount of progress was made in each of the strategic areas identified as Learning Experience, Technology, Facilities, Personnel, Resources, and Public Engagement.
At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, the school board directed the SDMA administrative team to make plans for initiating a new strategic planning process for the school district. In the past five years there have been many changes in our schools and community, and while the mission, vision, and core values of The Great Conversation still guide progress in the school district, school district leaders felt that it was important to evaluate current priorities to ensure that school district resources stay well aligned with the expectations of the community.
In January, the school board will be reviewing an action plan and timeline for the next round of strategic planning in the SDMA. It will be recommended that a number of meetings be scheduled across the school district in 2018 to share information and gather input from a variety of school district stakeholders including parents, students, SDMA staff, community members, and business owners. In addition to these listening sessions, the school district will also be investigating the use of a digital tool to collect thoughts from those who would prefer to share their input at a time of their own choosing.
While sharing information and gathering input will be a major component of the strategic planning process, the analysis and synthesis of data will be critical for drawing conclusions and establishing prioritized goals for the future of the school district. It is expected that much of this work will be done by a steering committee prior to administrative actions plans being developed and completion of the goal for having the new strategic plan completed and approved before the end of 2018.
Thank you to everyone who cares so much about public education in our community. Should school families or community stakeholders have any questions, concerns, or suggestions for our schools, or if you are interested on serving on the steering committee for strategic planning in the SDMA, I invite you to visit me at the Administrative Service Center on Pine Avenue, or contact me at 715-232-1642. More information about our schools can be found on the school district website (www.sdmaonline.com), and I regularly post school-related information on Twitter (www.twitter.com/sdmaonline) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/menomonie.schools)