Lee County Schools unveils draft five-year strategic plan emphasizing growth, wellbeing and teacher retention

Miss Clark, the district staff member leading the strategic-plan work, presented a draft five-year strategic plan to the Lee County Board of Education, saying the plan is not finalized and asking for board feedback.

The plan centers on four focus areas: student growth and future-ready pathways; comprehensive student well-being, safety and resilience; operational efficiency and long-term sustainability; and strengthening the human-capital pipeline to retain educators. Miss Clark said the planning process included a stakeholder committee, town-hall meetings and surveys and that the team used synthesis tools to identify priorities.

Board members and staff described the plan’s emphasis on growth rather than only state performance measures. Miss Clark said the district’s numerical goals include a 10% increase in overall student achievement (measured using growth and performance-composite metrics), a target student attendance rate of 95%, and a target teacher-retention rate of 86%. She said the plan aims to raise all Lee County Schools student subgroups to meet or exceed growth benchmarks and to establish differentiated supplements and human-capital pathways to improve pay competitiveness for principals and central-office staff.

Miss Clark walked through baseline metrics and noted that some measures will be reported biannually and others more frequently. She described action teams assigned to each focus area and said additional detail about action steps and metrics is available in the draft plan packet provided to the board. The plan calls for final revisions after two community meetings; Miss Clark said one community meeting is scheduled for April (location not yet set) and the district plans a final presentation to the board before a July 1 effective date if the board approves the plan.

Board members praised the outreach process and asked specific questions about mental-health supports, metric frequency and how the plan links to facilities and staffing. The superintendent and other board members noted that the accountability officer traditionally leads strategic-plan work and thanked Miss Clark and the planning committee for completing the draft without an outside contractor. The board was told a districtwide convocation to introduce the plan to staff is scheduled for Aug. 6, 2025, 9 a.m., at Lee County High School.

The presentation included references to the Teacher Working Conditions survey, local performance-audit findings and district-collected baseline data; Miss Clark said those sources shaped the targets and action steps. Board members and staff agreed to review the draft and return comments to the planning team for revision.

Miss Clark said the planning committee will incorporate feedback from public meetings and return a revised document to the board for final approval.