Center Grove board hears strategic plan update after community survey and focus groups

Stacy Conrad, staff lead on the strategic planning effort, told the Center Grove Community School Corp. board that the district's strategic planning process is more than halfway complete and that Education Elements is facilitating the work.

Conrad said the planning team combined demographic and assessment data with survey and focus-group feedback to draft values and broad pillars. The district has convened a 25-person steering team of administrators, teachers, parents and community members and plans design-day meetings this month; the steering team will meet again on May 28 to begin converting pillars into measurable goals. Conrad said the final plan will be presented to the board this summer.

Why it matters: the board and staff said the plan will guide district priorities and resource decisions in a period of state-level fiscal change. Board members present praised the process, noting the steering team and public survey as sources of community input.

Conrad described the public engagement that has informed the plan. She said the district distributed a community-wide survey to more than 16,000 parents and community members in the district database, plus staff and students in grades 5'0. The presentation summarized that the district received a large number of responses (reported in the presentation as more than 15,000), and staff conducted eight focus groups including about 70 people. Education Elements led two full-day steering-team sessions in April and May to synthesize input and draft initiatives tied to priorities. The draft values named in the presentation were "community, empowerment, and learning," and draft pillars included "learning," "belonging," and "communication." Staff said those pillars are intentionally broad and will be developed into measurable goals during upcoming design work.

Board member Jane Donegan Smith and other trustees who attended steering-team sessions said the meetings were well run and that the membership of the steering team represented a broad cross-section of the district. The board was asked to note that a brief survey seeking feedback on the draft values and pillars closes at midnight the night of the meeting, and that Education Elements will compile those responses for the May 28 steering-team meeting.

Next steps: staff will return to the board this summer with a final strategic plan and will bring individual measurable goals and strategies to future meetings for adoption and implementation planning.

Sources and context: the presentation and timeline were delivered to the board during the regular meeting; no formal vote or action was taken on the strategic plan at this session.