The Vision Committee will form and oversee the Working Groups. Driven by community input, the Working Groups will compile a long range plan. The Vision Committee will review the plan, helping to ensure that community feedback is incorporated. The School Board will approve the plan. Everyone together will implement the Plan.
The Vision Committee will appoint the Working Groups. The Working Groups will develop the process; and work with the Vision Committee to refine the process. The community will offer input through Interactive Community Forums and various other modes of community outreach (please see community outreach page). The Working Groups will incorporate community feedback into a draft plan, and will work with the Vision Committee to refine the plan. After the community signs off on the plan, everyone will work together to implement it.
This is a community-driven process that will lead to a comprehensive plan for the Unit 4 School District. This process is NOT a prelude to a new referendum. If financial resources are required to achieve the community’s vision, we will evaluate multiple alternatives to obtaining those resources. In order to keep the process focused and relevant, we hope to have this process completed by summer, 2008; but recognize that the process is what is most important and we are prepared to take whatever time is required to ensure a comprehensive, inclusive, and transparent process. |
.jpg)
|
Crucial to the success of the long range plan is community input! Two facilitators from our community have been secured to work with the Vision Committee, Working Groups, and community. Stig Lanesskog, Assistant Provost for Strategic Planning and Elizabeth Perrachione, a Facilitator with over a decade of community-based facilitation experience, are assisting in the development of a community-driven process that will engage all stakeholders. Our objective is to co-create a vision and plan in ways that build a solid relationship between the schools and community and unite the community, resulting in an increased level of involvement and momentum to implement the plan. We have and will continue to structure the process with the following in mind:
-
Involve as much of the community as possible; via membership on the Working Groups, attendance at interactive community-based forums, training students and other community members to be facilitators, and a variety of other community outreach modalities to ensure maximum participation.
-
Rebuilding the relationship between the school and community; through widespread community involvement, clarity involving how and where we are incorporating community feedback, and clearly articulated deliverables that will be met by the schools.
-
Remain focused on the big picture—our students and community—while putting aside our own agenda’s and biases. This is something we’re committed to doing. Something we’re asking everyone on the Vision Committee and Working Groups to do. And something we’re going to ask each and every community member to keep in mind.
Faced with what seems like an impossible task, a group of folks
will do well to remember the African Proverb: When spider webs unite
they can tie up a lion.
Johnnetta B. Cole