Last Saturday the Steering Committee for Strategic Planning gathered for its first session. Committee members include students, teachers, parents, board members and administrators, who bring their various perspectives to the process. Further meetings will take up the project of creating a new Strategic Plan across September through November next year, with the goal of having the plan approved by the Board for implementation by December. This will give us the road map for the coming 5 years.
The first session was ably facilitated by Benjamin Bynum. The incoming new Director, Dr. Alan Knobloch, took part in the process bringing his previous experience with strategic planning in other schools and his perspective on the future possibilities for the school. We took time to review the previous strategic plan, as well as information about the school, its history of development over the years, its demographics and growth potential, and its educational programs. We framed our brainstorming around futuristic notions, such as: What will our Kindergarteners need to know as they begin to navigate their careers in 2025? What will they need to know and be able to do mid-career in 2045? We shared our many impressions of areas of strength and of weakness currently prevailing at ISD in order to identify a few central goals that can serve as our focus in the new Strategic Plan. The program allowed for hearty and passionate sharing of our many points of view. We generated many ideas for us to examine in the coming session, even as we will research areas to focus upon in the 5 year of the Plan. We found the experience exciting and stimulating. It gave us confidence that we will indeed be adept in preparing the way forward for ISD in the coming years. In September, we plan to invite a few more members to join the committee.
Ask a committee member you know for his or her take on the ideas generated and discussions around them at this first session.