Schools’ new Strategic Plan offers reasons to get excited
Leaders, students, staff, parents and community partners recently began work on the 2022-2025 Springfield City School District Strategic Plan, and with that, comes excitement that will reach everyone in our Wildcat family!
The new SCSD Strategic
Plan will lead how we move forward and how we will persevere. Together, we spent countless hours of planning, focus groups, meetings, and research; diving deep into what really matters. It was not necessarily popular, and sometimes a reality not easy to hear or accept, but a plan that embraces and intersects the heart of every preschool child with the knowledge and passion of a Wildcat student walking across the stage on graduation day.
The district chose to create a new strategic plan that would create a compelling vision for the future, roadmap specific goals with measurements in place, reach high achievement as it relates to annual goals and build an even greater presence of loyalty and #Catpride.
As we began the planning process, the District welcomed new leadership and talent to serve in various capacities. Recently, we recruited and hired new Human Resources Director Michelle Jones, new Director of Elementary Education Heidi Shanor, and a new Director of Federal Programs
Dr. Pam Shay. In addition, we promoted from within to announce new Director of Information Technology Ken Pack, as well as a new principal at Schaefer Middle School in Penny Dixon.
The SCSD Board of Education provided guiding thoughts with encouragement to share and celebrate more of the milestones found throughout the SCSD, focus on accountability and pay close attention to the overall culture of the District. In addition, moving forward, they asked that we add additional resources to retain students in our district and improve graduation rates and our State Report Card status.
As the details of the Strategic Plan are released with weekly updates to our families, we will create opportunities to provide feedback, share updated district brochures, a brand refresh and many more exciting pieces of the Strategic Plan puzzle.
While the past few years have been challenging for our country and have affected each of our communities directly, we are confident that we have embarked on a dynamic Strategic Planning process, most appropriate for the current challenges and celebrations of the District.
The SCSD is proud to share the district’s new Mission and Vision, our push forward to become one Wildcat Family in all that we do, and many other exciting changes that allow for a narrow focus on student success and serve as a guide for the next three years. Our students will continue to enjoy a thoughtful, carefully crafted curriculum. Our Mission and Vision, together, chart the future of our Springfield City School District Community.
In the Strategic Plan development process, it was an honor to work with our Board of Education, our District Strategic Plan Committee, and the greater Springfield community. With the help and input of thousands, we designed a roadmap that will guide our decisions in the District for the next several years, accompanied by an even stronger desire to model student success across the region and state.
Internally, administration, staff and students were surveyed, focus groups were completed and a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis was executed. Externally, we conducted Board member interviews, surveyed parents and community members and conducted parent and community focus groups, while also comparing our District to others of like-size and demographic.
From this planning, identified strengths among the district included budgeting, professional development, communications, technology and much more.
At the same time, areas of growth were identified and included clarity of roles, onboarding for new staff, staff retention and procedural clarification.
VISION: The new Strategic Plan Vision for the Springfield City School District is:
One Community:
Inclusive.
Compelled.
Future Ready.
MISSION: The new Strategic Plan Mission for the Springfield City School District is: Foster a consistent, collaborative learning culture where each student is engaged, encouraged and empowered to achieve full potential.
VALUES: The new Strategic Plan Values for the Springfield City School District are: W: Well-rounded
I: Inclusive
L: Learners
D: Dedicated
C: Collaborative
A: Ambitious
T: Trustworthy
S: Service Oriented
STRATEGIC THEMES:
F: Foster Social Emotional Learning
I: Inspire and Advance Teaching and Learning
E: Embrace Inclusive Culture L: Leverage Business and Community Partnerships
D: Demonstrate Operational Excellence
The new SCSD Strategic Plan Year One will be implemented January through June 2023.
To move this plan forward, we are counting on everyone in the community. The District already has many partners who are talented, committed individuals with diverse perspectives. We will also seek new partnerships with others who share our vision for the future, allowing our stakeholders to contribute passion and creativity to help us realize our goals and future success for our students.
The SCSD is most grateful for the 2,000 plus stakeholders who provided survey responses and those that attended over 40 focus groups, totaling over 100 hours of stakeholder input.
A heartfelt thank you to each of those groups for their commitment to our students; the most important members of our Wildcat family.
As the Superintendent of the Springfield City School District, there is no place I would rather lead, no place I would rather live, and no place I would rather educate my children.
Go Wildcats!