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Taos Municipal Schools strategic-planning forum compiles 43 needs; staffing and special education top priorities
Summary
Facilitators collected and prioritized 43 distinct community needs at a May 14 planning session; top themes included substitute and special-ed staffing, volunteer onboarding barriers, staff wellness, later secondary start times and program continuity.
Facilitators from Cooperative Educational Services led a strategic-planning exercise on May 14 in which community members identified 43 distinct needs for Taos Municipal Schools. The session will inform a three-year strategic-plan refresh the board will adopt.
"We did a comprehensive audit ... it is time now to refresh those strategic plans," David Chavez, executive director of Cooperative Educational Services, told attendees as he described a multi-district study and explained the night's prioritization process.
Participants raised needs across staffing and programming: increased substitute teachers and volunteers, full funding for special education and reading/math interventions, staff-wellness supports and coaching, later start times for secondary students, alternative academic settings for struggling students, stronger career and technical education pathways, and efforts to recruit and retain students and staff (including staff housing and transportation supports).
Chavez said facilitators captured 43 needs and asked small groups to prioritize them by assigning points (two points to top-ranked needs and one point to others) in a structured ranking exercise. "We have a total of 43 needs," he said, and explained the consense-based scoring that will produce districtwide prioritized needs for the board to address over a three-year cycle.
The facilitators said they will compile the ranked results into a report for the board and post it on the district website; the board will consider the highest-ranked needs when setting goals. The meeting recessed for a 15-minute break and later reconvened to complete the group-ranking work. The board adjourned after facilitators summarized next steps.
