“Do the best you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better.” This quote by Maya Angelou characterizes our strategic planning process in the Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD). As you may recall, CCSD started the formal strategic planning process during a public Board of Education meeting in February.
The goal of our strategic planning process is to chart a course for the school district for the next five years. The key to our strategic plan being successful is for everyone to participate in the process. Currently CCSD is collecting data from parents, students, teachers, staff members, administrators and community members. To participate in the process, please visit CCSD webpage, click on the Strategic Planning Logo and scroll to the bottom of the page.
Other ways CCSD is collecting data throughout the strategic planning process is through focus forum interviews. The focus forum interviews will take place on Friday, May 5, and will consist of six to eight individuals being asked a series of questions by an outside consultant. The focus forum groups are made up of various school related constituent groups. The school district is also crafting a focus forum group made up of individuals without any direct affiliation to the school. Again, if you would like to participate in any of these interviews, please contact Dr. Terry Ward at [email protected] or 315-655-5379.
CCSD first CORE Team meeting was held on March 21. The CORE Team is a diverse group of individuals donating their time to help CCSD grow and improve. CORE Team members include Jonathan Benn (HS Student), Kristi Chiarello, Peter Ciarelli, Shelia Clonan, Laura Connor (HS Student), Barb Cudney, Lisa Fostveit, Nate Franz, Jim Frazee, Jim Giardina, Eric Knuth, Kara May, Natalie Mehlbaum, Lou Orbach, Matt Reilly (ex officio member), Margereta Sevier, Lisa Smith, Jim Steinberg and Terry Ward (Internal Coordinator).
At the first meeting, the CORE Team members got to know each other, learned the scope of our work, examined our current mission statement and began to look at school and building level data. At the conclusion of the meeting, a mission statement subcommittee agreed to draft a new Cazenovia Central School District mission statement.
At our next CORE Team meeting, we will further examine the current state of CCSD, consider draft mission statement, examine 50 Best American Public Schools practices and begin to identify areas of growth.
Throughout this process, we will continually strive to identify ways to grow as a school district. Remember Maya Angelou’s quote, “Do the best you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better.” I truly believe all CCSD stakeholders do the best we can. Through this process, we will identify opportunities to grow as a school district. The challenging part is, “when you know better, do better.”
