Strategic Plan Mapped Out For School District

By Eliza Hallabeck

 The first strategic plan for the school district was presented at the Board of Education’s meeting on Wednesday, October 22. The strategic plan, if implemented, would map out a guide for the district to use in furthering itself.

The process of creating the draft happened over two-and-a-half days, according to Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais. He said 30 people attended the meetings that called for people to order the points they believe are important to have in the school district.

During the meetings, held on October 2, 3, and 4, the group was separated into smaller groups and they were each asked to come up with their own answers as to what they believe should be Newtown’s priorities. Each group then presented their findings back to the whole.

“It’s amazing how similar their results were when these people worked in small groups,” said Mr Dumais.

The meetings were held at Edmond Town Hall, and combined they lasted for more than 30 hours. They were closed to the public, and the presentation at the board’s meeting was the first presentation for the public.

The strategic plan, when implemented, would pinpoint what areas the school district needs to move forward with and the areas that need improvement.

“There’s a group of things that we can all agree on in Newtown as important,” said Newtown Middle School PTA President Mary Ann Jacob, who presented the second portion of the strategic plan meeting results.

The strategic plan was broken down into five areas by the 30 members of the group, and for each of the five different concepts more people will be needed to volunteer to work on the topics, according to Ms Jacob.

The draft of the plan includes beliefs, mission statements, objectives, strategies, and parameters that can be used to help the district grow.

Some of the beliefs presented in the draft include “each individual is unique and has value,” “everyone can and will learn well,” “it takes effort and persistence to achieve one’s full potential” and “high expectations inspire higher levels of performance.”

Ms Jacob said the beliefs will guide the group who inspects them to where the district wants to be in the future. The other areas in the plan would be applied in the same way.