“Grounded by our history, as one of the oldest publicly supported schools in Wisconsin, MPSD is the heart of a small community that educates and inspires our students for a bright future in a big world.”
This is the mission statement the District has been operating under since the last Strategic Plan was completed in 2014. The Plan has served students, staff, and the community well in a roadmap to increased achievement. This alone is an accomplishment because so often, strategic plans seem to just end up being documents that are never revisited after the intense planning process is over.
A group of diverse and engaged stakeholders came together August 3 and 4 to share ideas around an update for the District’s Strategic Plan.
The four focus areas of the former Strategic Plan included: Academic Achievement, Community Engagement, Fiscal Responsibility, and Technology.
As the group did its work, it heard reports on the progress achieved in each area and decided to either keep these focus areas, or switch them out for new ones based on current needs and priorities.
So, what’s in a Strategic Plan?
It’s the celebration of work done to date.
It’s a disciplined and thoughtful process that links the values, mission, and goals of a school system with a set of coherent strategies and tasks designed to achieve those goals.
According to Envisio, there are seven reasons why districts need strategic planning:
- A Strategic Plan articulates a shared vision, mission and values.
- A strategic plan effectively organizes schools and their staff.
- A strategic plan defines how success is measured.
- A strategic plan aids a school board with governance decisions and provides direction for the future.
- A strategic plan increases communication and engagement.
- A strategic plan keeps everyone in a school—from teachers to administrators—connected.
- The best reason of all for strategic planning comes back to every great school’s number one priority: students.
When you see the following people around town, give them a thank you for being so giving of their time, talents, and efforts to help mold this living document: Mayra Angel, Matt Austin, Jason Basting, Judy Benish, Andy Busch, Vickie Dahl, Dixie Dempsey, Joelle Doye, David Engels, Luke Francois, Kelly Gundlach, Jim Harris, Zoe Hay, Debi Heisner, Mary Jean James, Jennie Pete, Jordyn Poad, Matt Renwick, John Rury, Peter Schmalz, Julie Stephenson, Crystal Taylor, Mitch Wainwright, and Joe Witmer, along with technology resources Kari Kabat and Kris McCoy, as well as secretary Angie Schubert.
The group was facilitated by Mary Gavigan, Ed.D., a former superintendent and now Executive Director at CESA #1.
Stay tuned as the group fine tunes the document and action plans are then developed around each focus area.