New strategic plan could create specific goals for school district

During its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 19, the Wrangell School Board started discussions on revising its strategic plan.

Strategic plans provide school districts with guidance on reaching specific goals over the course of five years. The current plan expires in 2023 but can be updated at any time.

In its recent accreditation assessment of the Wrangell Public School District, Arizona-based company Cognia determined the strategic plan was too vague.

Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said Cognia came to that conclusion because plan timelines were “more generalized rather than specific. … Or (for example) curriculum alignment will occur by this (specific) date, but what that actually looks like at the end is missing.”

Since the current strategic plan “took the better part of a year to come up with,” according to Kimberly Powell, the district’s administrative assistant, it is better to get started on the new plan sooner rather than later. The timeline to complete the plan depends on the amount of planning, people and public hearings involved, she said.

Board president David Wilson brought forward the discussion on a new plan at the Sept. 19 meeting.

“I know we’ve accomplished a lot on our strategic plan; there are still several things that are works in progress,” Wilson said. “If we revise or redo our strategic plan, it doesn’t mean things can’t be carried over. Do we want to continue with what we have or start work on a new strategic plan?”

If a new strategic plan is created, Burr said some of the items that could potentially be considered are:

- Consolidating the elementary and middle school campuses

- Modern education changes in instruction

- Staffing

- Course offerings

- Curriculum reviews

- Four-day school weeks or subsistence calendars, which could be timed to match household food-gathering needs

- Plan for exit-based instruction

- Post-kindergarten through 12th grade opportunity challenges

- Instructional updates

- Technology education

- Project-based outcomes

“If we were looking at something that was a major change, that is part of our strategic plan,” Burr said. “It’s not declaring that we’re doing any of those things. It’s that if the board thinks the district needs to pave a new path, then earlier is better.”

Burr said planners would seek input form the community on successes they’d want to achieve and challenges they would want to face. He said a strategic plan focus group would also be created if the process moves forward.

Wilson pointed at that a new plan was just an idea at this point.

“It’s not that we’re making a decision tonight, but I wanted to open up the discussion, wanted everybody to be thinking about it, and we’ll probably have it on our agenda again next month,” Wilson said. “I want it to be on the forefront of everybody’s mind as to what we want to do.”