Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Strategic Planning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Blaine County school leaders recommend five-year strategic plans to keep districts focused
Summary
Blaine County School District Chair Laura Stone and Superintendent Jim Fouty told the House Committee on Education they favor five-year strategic plans tied to annual implementation steps and broad community input, contrasting those plans with one-year continuous improvement plans.
Laura Stone, chair of the Blaine County School District board, and Jim Fouty, the district superintendent, urged the House Committee on Education on Feb. 18 to consider the value of five-year strategic plans that are regularly reviewed and tied to annual implementation steps.
Stone said the district adopted a five-year strategic plan after Fouty recommended the approach to help the board and district leadership “keep the main thing the main thing.” She said every board agenda item is linked to the strategic plan and that public posting and regular progress reports have increased transparency and alignment with community priorities.
Fouty described strategic plans as broader than one-year continuous improvement plans: they include measurable student achievement goals but also address facilities, budgeting, staff recruitment and professional development. He noted that the 2014 legislature originally required strategic plans in statute (referencing a law described in testimony as “33 dash 3 20”), but that a subsequent amendment changed the statutory requirement to a continuous improvement plan.
Fouty said the district gathered community input through seven meetings and more than 700 survey responses; two roundtables were conducted in Spanish to include Spanish-speaking families. “Never let the paint dry,” Fouty said, explaining his view that a strategic plan should be a living document in active use rather than a document that sits on a shelf.
Committee members asked about turnout and meeting cadence; Fouty said community meetings typically attracted about 30 people and were held across multiple district communities. He also said the district ties annual goals to the five-year plan and evaluates progress each summer to set the next year’s one-year plan.
Stone and Fouty did not request a statutory change during their testimony but said they would support districts choosing strategic plans and offered to share their process and survey instruments with other districts and legislators.
