Overview:

Welcome to the Unit 4 School District’s initiative: Great Schools, Together. Conceived of by the Unit 4 School Board and supported by the Administration, this initiative brought community members together to share their vision for our schools, now and in the future.

The goal of Great Schools, Together was to create a cohesive, long-range plan for Unit 4 schools—using as much community input as possible—so that the Unit 4 School Board and Administration could move forward in ways that truly reflect the vision and goals of those they serve. To achieve this, the community was engaged in a variety of ways. Community members served on a Vision Committee, in Working Groups, and as facilitators. All other community members were encouraged to attend one or more of ten community forums to brainstorm and share ideas. Held between March and May of 2008, these forums were scheduled at a variety of times and in various locations throughout the community. The hope was that everyone interested could attend at least one forum. Seven of the forums were theme-based, focusing on: Excellence & Equity, Programs, Infrastructure, and Engaging Community Stakeholders. Three—the first and last two forums—were open for participants to choose the topics they wanted to discuss.

Notes were generated after each of the forums. E-mailed to participants and posted on the website, these notes were also sent to members of the Vision Committee and Working Groups. It was the community’s comments, offered during these ten forums, that provided the “meat” for the long-range plans compiled by the three Working Groups—Programs, infrastructure, and Engaging Community Stakeholders. The Vision Committee also referred back to these notes as they compiled the three separate plans into a cohesive whole.

“This Forum is a wonderful idea.

Let’s set positive, measurable, short-term goals to show ourselves and the community our university town can take all students to the next achievement level.”

3/12 Forum Participant

Want to hear more?  WILL is supporting the community and the Great Schools, Together Initiative by creating a video library of how our community feels about our schools.  WILL’s website is up and running.