09/17/2012

With mission statement complete, School Board sets sights on strategic and action plans for Cape schools

With its new mission and vision in clear view, the School Board is ready to begin work on a strategic plan for Cape Elizabeth schools.

Superintendent Meredith Nadeau outlined projected steps for developing that strategic plan at the board's meeting Sept. 11, 2012.

Nadeau said she envisions the plan in two parts: A long-term, 5-10 year strategic plan encompassing facilities and capital needs; and, a shorter, 1-3 year "action" plan addressing curriculum, direct instruction and professional development.

"In an ideal world you have a one-page action plan, with some measurable outcomes and some dates in which you intend to achieve those," Nadeau told members of the board. She pointed to plans in Falmouth and Scarborough as format models. "I think if it's much longer than that you are spread in too many different directions you're not utilizing your resources in the most effective way," she said.

From community forum in October to final draft in January

The planning process would start in late September or early October with a community forum, much like those conducted for the mission and vision statement approved by the board in May. The forum would use the mission and vision as a "launching pad" to begin moving the schools forward, Nadeau said.

A working group of School Board members, administrators, teachers, students, parents and community members would work from mid-October through the end of November to present a draft plan to the board.

A final draft should be ready by mid-January, "in advance of the budget season so that you have a multi-year plan to carry us forward," Nadeau said.

Filling gaps to meet goals

School Board member Joanna Morrissey characterized strategic planning as a comparison of the school system's gaps to its goals, "So that you can put a plan in place to fill those gaps to get to the goals that you want to meet," she said, holding up a copy of the newly adopted vision and mission statement.

Board member Michael Moore said he agreed that the action plan should focus on attainable priorities, adding that potential pre-K and kindergarten impact on student learning should be part of the analysis. "We can use this opportunity to make a decision, make an assessment so we can see what the community supports and how that might fit into the overall goals of the district," Moore said.

Mary Townsend, School Board chair, said she has seen a renewed interest in full-day kindergarten through the vision and mission development and through the superintendent search conducted two years ago.

Those studies are giving the strategic planning a head start, as is a professional engineering study of all Town and School Department facilities being conducted by the Town. "That report we hope will be available to us later this month so we will already have that information going in to this work," Nadeau said.

She said she does not think the planning process will be as cumbersome as the mission and vision development because much of the preliminary data-gathering has been done. "The difficult process is winnowing down the priorities," Nadeau said.

A key component, as suggested by Board member Mary Kate Williams-Hewitt, will be reaching out to community members who do not have children in school, Nadeau said. "No one group among us is going to accomplish this without the support of the entire community," she said. "So the more we can spread the message and bring people into the process I think the better the outcome," Nadeau said.

Part of board goals for 2012

The strategic planning discussion came as part of a review of the board's goals for 2012. The first three goals - the 2012-13 budget, contract negotiations and a new vision and mission statement - have essentially been achieved. The strategic plan is No. 4 on the list seven goals.