Building Trust With Community, Staff Lead Preliminary Goals Of District Strategic Planning Efforts
 | Author:
Linda Kent, MT43 News Staff Reporter
MT43 News Correspondent |
Building Trust with Community, Staff Lead Preliminary Goals of District Strategic Planning Efforts
Linda Kent
MT43 News Staff Reporter
As board members, administrators and a handful of Townsend Schools staff worked through a pair of exercises designed to help distill the district’s strategic vision into attainable one-to-two-year goals, the themes of community and staff trust and engagement anchored much of the group discussion of those goals.
“If this is just a board directive, it’s going to fail,” trustee Jason Kool said, referring to the need to engage staff in the development of the plan. Board Vice Chairman Chase Ragen underscored building trust with the community as a core driver for the strategic plan. Several among the group shared the concern that without engagement, efforts to develop the plan would be wasted.
“The strategic plan should be a living document that affects every board decision,” said Andy Sever of the Montana School Boards Association, who has facilitated the planning process for the board. “It should be a part of the regular discussion.”
The group first looked at trends in the areas of demographics, business and economic climate, legislation and regulation, technology and science, and politics and social values. The work then moved into a discussion of goal areas and accomplishable one-to-two-year goals.
It quickly became clear that, for many, the lack of public participation and limited staff contributions to the three sessions posed a significant obstacle to defining goals that have the kind of support necessary for success. Given the demands on staff at the end of the school year, the group decided to re-engage in the strategic planning process in August.
In the meantime, board members and administration will work on ways to bring the work done so far out to the community and invite broader participation in the process.
