Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District has a new five-year strategic plan.
The district’s board of trustees on Tuesday approved the plan after a lengthy presentation from school administrators. The new plan offers five overarching goals for district improvement, as well as strategies and ways to measure success in accomplishing each goal.
James Hutto, a partner and consultant with Hattiesburg-based Impact Education Group, facilitated the study, for which SOCSD paid $18,000.
SOCSD implemented some of the plan’s strategies in 2017-18, including joining the Mississippi Innovation Lab Network to better facilitate project-based learning in grades 6-12, implementing Leader in Me character education initiatives for students and recruiting new teachers through an on-site job fair.
“I think it’s going to be really helpful. It’s been really helpful this year,” said Assistant Superintendent Christy Maulding, who specializes in curriculum and instruction. “We didn’t just pull random things out of the air. All of these things are things we know play a significant role in teaching and learning.”
Superintendent Eddie Peasant said the school district’s most recent five-year plan expired at the end of 2017-18. The new plan, he said, is meant to grow successes the district has already built. It’s the first plan the second-year superintendent has helped implement at SOCSD.
“Coming in with a new administration we wanted to put our clear vision in place as we move forward,” Peasant said. “It’s just an investment in time and making sure we manage. There’s not much in there that’s about purchasing something new, it’s about doing some things and putting things in place.”
The Strategic Plan
The plan’s five goals include student achievement, school culture, human resources, community collaboration and operational effectiveness. Each goal details four sub-strategies and explains measurables. The strategic plan was not state-mandated.
Student achievement, the first goal, offers strategies geared to enhance academic performance. This focuses on the Mississippi Innovation Lab Network, more rigorous curriculum in the classroom, professional development and support for teachers, and student integration into arts and athletics.
School culture highlights training and professional development in customer service, training annually on bullying, harassment and suicide prevention, hiring a full-time school psychologist and creating safe environments for students.
Human resources focuses on tactics to recruit and retain teachers, evaluate reasons for teacher turnover, and recognition of teachers and support staff each month. Peasant said, as of now, the district does not have a paid-incentive program for employees based on merit and there are no plans to increase employee salaries.
Community collaboration strategy focuses on involvement with the Greater Starkville Development Partnership on work-based learning, as well as family outreach and immersing students in the community.
Operational effectiveness focuses on school safety through trainings and assessments, fiscal professional development and monitoring energy-saving plans.
“We are excited to have this in place and we are really excited to share this with the teachers,” Peasant said. “This is our school district plan but it’s also a plan for the community.”
Throughout all aspects of the strategic plan, professional development was a central focus. The largest indicator of success, throughout the strategic plan, was student achievement and involvement.
“I think that student academic success and career and college readiness is the hub of the district,” Maulding said. “Everything else happens so that students can grow and be prepared for success after college.”
Implementation
During discussion, board member Debra Prince questioned Peasant on the success benchmarks that would be difficult to identify.
“There are some things that are a little more difficult to actually measure,” Peasant said to Prince. “That’s something we can look into further as far as what success looks like.”
Board member Keith Coble asked how the district intends to maintain continual efforts following the plan, rather than “putting it on the shelf.”
“You will see this be a part of everything we do,” Peasant responded to Coble. “There is no way we are putting this on the shelf. Our plan is to follow it.”
One technological implementation on the horizon is SOCSD intends to purchase about 2,000 iPads, which would cost $400 per iPad for a four-year lease, for Armstrong Middle School and Starkville High School. Coinciding with the 21st century learning environment detailed in the strategic plan, Peasant said he hopes to eventually have one iPad per student in all schools.
The board-approved plan applies an accountability factor for any shortcomings, Peasant said.
“This allows everyone to have a clear understanding of our vision and our mission and our goals that are in place, and the strategies in achieving our goals,” Peasant said. “Everyone can go to the plan to actually see what we are doing and our direction of getting there.”
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