Leominster School Committee launches five-year strategic plan process, seeks broad community input

The Leominster School Committee on Sept. 2 heard a timeline and outreach plan for the district's next five-year strategic plan, with administrators asking committee members and the public to participate in surveys, focus groups and school-site visits.

Loreen Cipolla, who presented the timeline to the committee, said the planning work will begin in earnest in October and that the district will run an "organizational diagnostic" this fall including surveys, interviews with cabinet members and virtual focus groups for families, staff, students and community stakeholders.

"There will be families, teaching staff, community stakeholders, including yourselves, and students and building administration will take part in focus groups that will be moderated to gather data," Cipolla said. She said the district will also conduct two-day site visits at each school and compile district data for the steering committee to review.

Superintendent Desmond told the committee the steering committee will include the superintendent, Cipolla, administrators for special education and English learners, building administrators across grade spans, teachers, and business, facilities and operations staff. The committee is expected to do the bulk of its work from November through February so the final plan can take effect on July 1.

Committee members pressed for clarity about scope and outcomes. A committee member, Ron, asked whether the plan would set an overarching systemwide vision and how many goals the district would set. Cipolla said the last plan produced five goals and the district plans to streamline to "three, maybe four overall arching goals" with multiple initiatives underneath.

Cipolla and Desmond emphasized that the process is intended to be iterative and transparent, with working-session feedback loops to peers and stakeholders between steering-committee meetings. "We're going to gather data along the way, both formative and then summative to see how we're doing on this," Cipolla said.

The presenters urged the committee to help publicize the surveys and virtual sessions. "People certainly watch these sessions, and so we like to use you as a conduit to let our parents and the community know that we would like their information in the surveys," Cipolla said.

The committee discussed connecting routine presentations and agenda items back to strategic-plan goals so future meetings show how individual topics advance the plan. Cipolla said the district will provide regular updates as the steering committee compiles and tests draft goals and measures.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the plan during the meeting; the presentation laid out the planned process and schedule for community engagement and internal work.