Superintendent shares strategic plan

“State of the Schools” addresses new mission, vision

Superintendent Bill Porter recently shared the district’s strategic plan for the next few years.

Mentor Schools Superintendent Bill Porter recently shared the district’s strategic plan for the next few years during a “State of the Schools” address.

The district’s strategic plan includes a new mission and vision, focusing on safety.

Porter said that the strategic plan will be the district’s “game plan” for the coming three to five years. Part of it involves a focus on all aspects of safety.

“Our first strategic plan area is safety and that’s really, for a long time, that has been our priority,” Porter said. “And it’s not just the physical safety, because that’s the first thing that comes to mind often. But even social, emotional safety is important, and not just for our students, but for our staff as well.”

He highlighted an August 2018 tabletop drill, where district staff members worked with Mentor police and firefighters to conduct an active-shooter simulation. The purpose of the drill was to help prepare staff members make real-time decisions in potential situations.

“We are currently working again with Mentor police and fire on staging a larger drill at the end of this school year,” Porter added.

He said that Mentor police and fire departments helped conduct inspections inside and outside district school buildings to find areas of strength and areas needing improvement.

“What that really helps us do, going forward in the next three to five years, is it helps us to prioritize,” Porter said. “What are those things that are most important to address sooner? What are some of the things we may even need to address a little bit further down the road?”

The district also added two school resource officers to Memorial and Shore middle schools this year.

“Just since Oct. 1 when it started, we have seen examples of their presence, their response to threats and rumors that may come up, to even simply sharing conversation with students and building that trust,” Porter said.

As part of a safety grant, Mentor Schools has also addressed the issue of school bus stop violations by installing exterior cameras to district school buses. The camera videos can serve as evidence for police to issue citations to violators.

A grant from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office was used to cover costs for the exterior bus cameras.

Online monitoring has been one of the district efforts to ensure non-physical safety, Porter said. The system allows for real-time monitoring, using a flagging method that identifies keywords that students search for online, or when they send and receive emails.

“This is a 24/7/365 service,” Porter said, adding “this is not to violate privacy by any means.”

He said that certain keywords might be indicators of a student’s mental health, thus giving school staff the opportunity to provide the student with help.

Enrollment is also part of the strategic plan. The district has experienced a leveling-out in enrollment following a decline, Porter said. Current enrollment is at 7,537 students.

“This time last year, we were announcing some big changes for the district,” Porter said.

He pointed to the redrawing of boundaries, the re-purposing of Ridge to an elementary school and the shift from three to two middle schools.

“Ultimately closing two buildings in that equation amounts to a savings of over $1 million a year, going forward,” Porter said.

Three former school buildings — Brentmoor, James A. Garfield and Dale. R. Rice Elementary — were unsuccessfully sold via auction and will be sold through a commercial real estate route.

Education is also a large part of the district’s strategic plan. One effort has been creating effective learning spaces.

“For the last few years, creating environments that are flexible, useful; comfortable for students and teachers alike — has been so important,” Porter said.

Another focus is on offering opportunities for students as alternatives to attending college.

There have also been STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Architecture and Math) initiatives in Mentor schools.

“We have curriculum at all grades level here in the district,” Porter said. “What we’ve seen as a result of our STEAM initiatives (are) gains in critical thinking and problem solving; students collaborating and working and building things and solving problems together.”

In addition to the strategic plan, Porter also touched on a new district mission statement and overall vision. The new district mission is: “Inspiring students today to reach their potential tomorrow.”

A new vision also states “Together we will: Ensure a safe learning environment, provide a balanced, highquality education, maximize district resources, encourage strong community partnerships.”

Used for a few years now, the district slogan is: “Adapting, balancing, collaborating.” To that end, Porter added, “We know that our best work happens when we collaborate together.”