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Henrico begins rewrite of strategic plan; draft vision is ‘Empowering every learner and maximizing potential’
Summary
Staff described a yearlong community engagement process and announced a draft vision and mission to replace the division’s long‑standing statements; steering committee will refine goals and present a final plan in May with public input in April.
Henrico County Public Schools staff presented an update on the division’s strategic planning process on Jan. 23, reporting broad community engagement and introducing a draft vision — “Empowering every learner and maximizing potential” — and a draft mission that emphasizes partnering with families and community to equip students with academic knowledge, life skills and readiness for work and citizenship.
Director of Assessment, Research and Evaluation Dr. Hinton told the board the steering committee includes 28 members — students, families, staff and community representatives from each magisterial district plus two board representatives — and that the committee has drawn on more than 22 focus groups and a December survey of about 1,600 respondents.
Why it matters: the strategic plan frames division priorities and resource decisions for the coming years. The steering committee identified four strategic focus areas that will structure goal setting and action planning: academic achievement (high‑quality instruction and equity), staff support and engagement (recruitment, retention and development), learning environments (safe, inclusive and efficient spaces), and social‑emotional health (mental health, belonging and well‑being).
Process and timeline Staff said work groups focused on each strategic area will develop detailed goals, action plans and performance metrics in February and March and present those plans to the steering committee in March. The board will review a draft strategic plan in April (with an online forum and public hearing for community feedback) and staff aim to present a finalized plan to the board in May.
Board members asked for clarity on language and meaning: Vice Chair Atkins asked how the new vision would replace the division’s prior phrasing; members requested a clear operational definition of “empowering” that can be applied across age groups and suggested parsing survey results to show “slightly agree” vs. “completely agree” responses and to provide the written comments collected. Staff agreed to share those breakdowns and the written feedback with the board.
Ending note Staff said the draft core values (including belonging and equity) will be embedded across the plan and that further revisions will reflect steering‑committee input and community responses before the April public review and the May board vote.
