City by the Lake

The Strategic Plan

The first thing I want to say in regards to the Strategic Plan is that I want to be on record as supporting it. I know it caused some divisions between our current school board members, but this plan holds dear to everything I believe a school system should be conceptually. It really does take a City to raise our youth, and for one shining moment, the work done on the Plan brought together people of all ages, races, sexes, backrounds, and incomes working for one common goal... The future of our youth. A lot of people put in a lot of hours, blood, sweat, and tears all with an eye on the future of Michigan City.

For those who have not seen the Plan, here is are the eight strategies which it looks to accomplish.

STRATEGIES

STRATEGY ONE:
We will put in place processes and learning opportunities to ensure that each student progressively creates and achieves his or her unique individual education plan (UIEP).

STRATEGY TWO:
We will provide all necessary support for each student to achieve his or her educational and personal goals.

STRATEGY THREE:
We will ensure that 100% of children will succeed in early childhood experiences.

STRATEGY FOUR:
We will ensure for each student a seamless transition from school to career regardless of vocational or educational goals.

STRATEGY FIVE:
We will create professional learning communities dedicated to the success of each student.

STRATEGY SIX:
Parents will be engaged in all aspects of their child’s education.

STRATEGY SEVEN:
We will create an open exchange of information and ideas, both internally and externally, to accomplish the mission and objectives of the Michigan City Area Schools.

STRATEGY EIGHT:
We will make our community an integral part of the Michigan City Area Schools.

I do want to comment on my feelings about a few specific phases of this plan, as well as the overall big picture in relation to the Plan.

First off, as I stated in some of my other comments, I believe the involvment of the entire community is the key to reviving not only the school system, but the entire City. Tenents #6, #7, and #8 go directly to this ideal. The more people are invovled, the more likely all parties are to be held accountable for the results that occur in our school system, and the more likely they are to go looking for answers when the results are not satisfactory.

Tenent #4 I believe to be not only the most vital, but one of the things that from a long term perspective, might just be the best measurement of our success as an educational system. I know I have said it before, but it bears repeating... Kids must be prepared to be life-long learners. Technology moves too fast in the 21st century for high school graduates not to be able to learn a new career, and to learn it quickly. Gone are the days where a 4 year high school education can prepare you for a life-long career, which means our job as an educational system is harder than it has ever been. We know that changes in the workplace are the only constant we can anticipate in the future. What we have to do is instill in our children the ability to learn and adapt. Beyond that, all we can do is give our kids the basic skills that will always be in demand, such as solid communication skills, familiarity with technology, basic math skills, and the like.

The 2nd tenant of the plan has also taken on a new prominence with the unwanted headlines that have been coming out of the High School recently, and that specifically is regarding a safe school enviornment for our children. The Plan specifically identifies 18 points for making the system safe, but only few of them actually go to the core of the problem that has been unspoken in our system for too long, and that is violence at our schools. Some have spoken of a gang problem, and others have said that because we don't have inner city gangs, that we do not have a "gang problem". No matter what you identify it as, kids who commit violent acts, have no place in our school system. Kids who commit violence, whether it be against kids, teachers, or staff, need to know that there is a zero tolerance policy from their first offense, so that they learn the lesson early that violence is not a solution to their problems. We must ensure that our children, as well as the teachers and staff are safe in their workplace. I can think of no other enviornment where violence and worse would be tolerated with a small smack on the wrist, and I do not think a school should be an exception. As a matter of a fact, when you are talking about a situation that is literally the biggest deterimining factor of a childs future, I think we owe it to our kids to lead by example and show them that violence will not be tolerated. Especially at the high school level, I believe if a child commits a violent act, the proper authorities should be involved, and they should face civil and criminal charges, just like they would if the acts had occurred in anywhere else but in a school building. As an adult their are consequences for all actions, and this is no exception.

Tenants #1, #2 #3, and #5 all kind of fit together as they all go setting goals, giving the tools to make those goals, and then acheiving those goals. I believe the committees did an excellent job of identifying many of the specific goals, and offering many great ideas on how to achieve them. Goals are the first and most important step towards clearly defining what our expectations are for our children. I do believe that his is an area where we as a school system have lagged historically, and it is an excellent move for us to start clearing up the fog that has traditionally exsisted here. Next up is determining what we need to give the children in order to achieve these goals, and I believe that this is somewhere that we really must lean on the expertese of our educators. With them being on the frontline and seeing first hand what the students bring to the classroom, they are the ones who have the best idea of what is needed here. The final thing is acheiving those goals, which obviously starts with the first two steps which I talked about.

In conclusion I believe that the absolute most important thing about the strategic plan is that we follow through on it. As I said the plan itself was a monuemental achievement in bringing together a community, but it is a complete waste of people's time if we don't hold people accountable, and make sure that these ideas become practice. We need to have periodic assessment meetings where we bring in people to testify to what is currently being done to achieve our goals, where we are are following short, and where we are succeeding. We must stay with this plan in order for it work. Keeping up to date on the Plan will also allow us to change things to better fit where we are headed as a community and as an educational system.

posted by southsider2k5 @ 11:17 AM