Berkley School District Strategic Plan Process & Survey #1

Dear Berkley Schools Community,

In 2019, the Berkley administrative team began working to revitalize the District’s Strategic Plan. The current plan, Vision 2020, expired in 2020, and we wanted to develop a plan that would not only reflect who we are as a District, but also continue to pull us forward. As we were ready to launch the research portion of our plan (community and staff surveys), the pandemic was upon us. We knew that our focus had to step away from the strategic plan and shift to educating during a global pandemic.

Fast forward to Fall 2021. We believe it is time to revisit the plan we started two years ago, and continue the process with the goal of establishing new guiding principles to lead us into the future.

As part of this plan, the team has created a new draft Vision, Mission, and Tagline as well as Goals, Focus Areas and Strategies. These new guiding principles will set the path for the Berkley Schools for the next five to ten years. As with any new plan, the plan is only good if the people who support the plan are engaged with it.

In the past, the District pulled together approximately 65 community members, teachers, students, parents, administrators and Board of Education trustees to write the plan in two and a half days. This time we’ve taken the approach that the more feedback we receive, the better the plan will be. In addition to the meetings with the administrative team, mentioned above, we have also held Board workshops to engage our Board Members in the process and with the proposed principles. We have spent time with every building staff this fall to present the plan and receive feedback. We also had consultants review the plan and give insights. Now we are asking all our stakeholders to share their feedback. Starting this week, we are sending short surveys, one a week for six weeks, to hear your thoughts.

Surveys will provide an opportunity for hundreds of ideas and reflections on this new set of principles to engage the entire community in our plan for the future. We recognize that online surveys may not appeal to all of you so, once the survey window is complete, we will host a community meeting on January 11, 2022, at 7 pm in the Berkley High School Collaborative Center (2325 Catalpa, Berkley).

After all the feedback has been evaluated and considered, we will present the final Vision, Mission, Tagline, Goals, Focus Areas and Strategies to the Board of Education for their approval. Our hope is that we launch into our new plan for the 2022-23 school year.

Please take a moment to view our proposed Goals, Focus Areas and Strategies on our Strategic Plan webpage.

Our current guiding principles are available on our website, too.

Survey one is now open - please take 5-10 minutes to complete your thoughts on our proposed guiding principles.

Next week, we’ll send questions on Goal 1: Thinking and Learning.

Thank you as always for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Scott Francis
Superintendent
Berkley Schools