New superintendent seeks public’s input
He’s developing a fiveyear strategic plan and is looking for help.
TROY — The new Troy school superintendent said the district will focus on developing a fiveyear strategic plan to help with “diagnosing where we are and where we are going.”
Superintendent Chris Piper, who started in August, kicked off the strategic plan process last week during a Troy City Schools Board of Education meeting.
“This will be the focus throughout this school year,” he said.
Epic Impact Education Consultants has been hired for $45,000 to assist in the strategic planning.
Board of education members Tom Kleptz and Susan Borchers were among those who attended a recent project kickoff with the consultants. Others were district administrators.
“I really liked the depth they had reaching into the community and involving the staffs. It really had a broad spectrum,” said Borchers, who was appointed to the board this summer.
“We may go into information overload at some point, but I think that is a good problem to have. You will have a lot of information to go through,” she added. “It will be, I am sure, very eye opening.”
In coming weeks, the information collection process will take off with surveys of parents, students and staff along with focus groups and forums.
This effort will give Piper a chance to get in front of the community.
“It will be good for me to stand in front of people hearing about a range of issues,” said Piper, who came from Triad Local Schools.
The focus groups, surveys and other tools used to reach the community will help define four or five broad goal areas. Each goal area will be broken into strategic steps and action steps.
Board President Doug Trostle said the process is intended to provide a road map to guide the board based on current trends and community priorities.
“Because we have identified that our facilities are quite old and require immediate attention, and we have appointed several new administrators, including Chris Piper, it is timely that the district redefine our vision and strategic plan,” he said.
The plan topics will include facilities, although the overall plan would deal with much more, Piper said.
“This isn’t a survey to see if we need new buildings,” Kleptz said.
District voters in November 2017 defeated a proposed bond issue to construct two elementary schools on the city’s west side. The project would have consolidated the district’s neighborhood elementary schools.
Facilities will continue to be discussed while the plan is being developed. The board has a work session scheduled Oct. 4 to discuss the failed bond issue, upcoming renewal levies and facility needs.