Columbus County Board adopts 'Rural Roots, Budding Futures' strategic plan for 2026–31

The Columbus County Board of Education on June 8 adopted a districtwide strategic plan titled "Rural Roots, Budding Futures" that sets six priority areas for 2026–2031: culture, success, readiness, support, investment and empowerment.

Laura Hunter, the district presenter, said the plan is organized in three parts — background on the district, six strategic priority areas with action steps, and two addenda aligning the district plan with the state board of education. Hunter described the district as a rural community of about 50,000 people serving roughly 5,000 students across 12 schools and said the plan is intended to be both “rooted in Columbus County schools” and “future forward.”

Hunter told the board the plan is data driven: it identifies gaps in student performance, consistency of learning across campuses, budget constraints, and staff recruitment and retention as priorities. She said the district intends to measure progress with school‑level implementation fidelity, retention and enrollment metrics, and student proficiency measures.

Members heard details on specific goals. Under the culture goal, Hunter said the district will work on a shared identity, branding and implementation metrics. On student success she cited a framework for curriculum fidelity and data protocols. The readiness goal emphasizes career and life readiness and an advisory program; the support goal focuses on multi‑tiered wraparound services; investment addresses talent pipelines and facilities audits; and empowerment centers on student and teacher agency.

Hunter summarized results from a community survey of more than 120 respondents, which she said returned average ratings near three stars (about 2.8–2.9 out of 5) for safe, engaging environments and relationship building; respondents prioritized success and readiness among the six strategic areas. She said the district will continue stakeholder engagement and provide implementation updates.

After board discussion and questions about college readiness and measuring postsecondary completion, Dr. Strickland moved to adopt the plan and Ms. Grass seconded. The board voted in favor and the plan was approved.

The board directed staff to proceed with the plan’s implementation steps and noted that interviews and portfolio reviews for district teacher and principal of the year will take place June 9 as one immediate follow up. The board record shows the plan will be revisited with implementation metrics in future meetings.