December meeting will outline goals, seek community input
It has been nearly 10 years since the Cazenovia Central School District updated its strategic plan, and Superintendent Matt Reilly believes now is the time for a revisit and revision — and he is hoping the entire community will get involved.
“This will be a collaborative process; we’re looking for input from all groups to understand how we do this, find our collective vision and chart a course for the next five years,” Reilly said. “We’re excited by it; I don’t know the last time it’s been done to this extent.”
The district’s current strategic plan, which is four pages long, was completed nearly a decade ago, and offers a five-year vision for the years 2008 to 2013. That plan is general, offering broad outlines for high achievement. What Reilly hopes to do with an update is to create something more comprehensive that will include some specific timelines and goals to help guide the district over next five years and beyond, he said.
“I’d like it to be a blueprint for future decision making, particularly in these critical times when education is changing and our finances are less certain than they have been in the past – its critical we look into the future,” Reilly said. “It will be a guiding document, not something that collects dust on a shelf.”
The new strategic plan will focus on the areas of curriculum and instruction, financial management, facilities, and community relations, Reilly said.
There will be a core group of stakeholders participating in the process — students, parents, teachers, staff, administrators, community members — and individual task forces assigned to specific topics that will be data-driven to focus on specific areas through surveys, interviews, public forums and other types of community interaction.
“This will be hard work, at times it could be uncomfortable, even critical, but we need to hear it if we are determined to get better,” Reilly said.
Reilly said the district has hired a consulting firm, PLC Associates, Inc., of Pittsford, N.Y., to assist with the strategic planning. The funding to pay for the consulting work comes from a state grant State Sen. David Valesky secured for the district earlier this year.
PLC facilitators will attend the board of education’s next regular meeting on Monday, Dec. 19, to introduce the update process to the district. The meeting will be in the board meeting room but may be moved to a larger location if necessary.
“I hope there is good enthusiasm and energy on this,” Reilly said. “I hope there is a big crowd at the December meeting.”
Reilly said the value of this effort will be in the process as well as in the document that is ultimately created. “Done right, you generate conversations that engender buy-in,” he said. “People will feel a part of it, as they should.”
