Consultant: MSD Steuben County strategic-plan survey shows communication gaps, flags financial choices and instructional refinements

At a work session of the MSD Steuben County Board of Trustees, April Connolly of Encompassing Education presented the consultant team's strategic-planning findings, saying communication, finance and academics emerged as the three priority areas the district should address.

"Communication was one of those priority areas," Connolly told trustees, recommending that the district "create or update your communication protocols and then make sure that all of your district personnel are using those platforms and those expectations around communication in the same way." She said the team used three full days of stakeholder interviews, classroom instruction walks and separate surveys for students, employees, families and community members.

At the start of the session a public commenter, David Campbell, told the board many parents said they were not aware the survey existed. Campbell said he had heard the district received "about 400 survey results" and contrasted that with a population base of roughly 2,400 students, arguing that the response level "may not be enough" to support final decisions and urging more outreach before decisive action.

District staff described the distribution channels they used: email, three newsletters about strategic planning, a video, Facebook posts and a QR code. Staff also said the district uses FinalForms for registrations and that during registration the district confirms a valid email is on file for each child. Staff noted text and email reach "the majority of families," but both trustees and the consultant said message volume and multiple platforms can obscure priority items for parents.

On finance, Connolly said stakeholders repeatedly prioritized teacher and staff retention and viewed some budget options as "negative choices." The report listed options included reconfiguration, transportation changes, a referendum or, as a cost-saving measure, closing an elementary school; Connolly called closing a school "the least offensive" of difficult choices reported by respondents and urged careful communications and family support if any such option were pursued.

On academics, the consultant recommended encouraging "authentic engagement" over mere compliance in classrooms, increasing programming for high-ability students, aligning grading practices across teachers and ensuring technology "enhances learning, not be just something that's used for rote practice."

Connolly concluded by saying the consultant team will spend a day with district staff to work through next steps, hold a day on-site for building-level planning and provide ongoing virtual support during the coming school year. Trustees and staff acknowledged there is more outreach to do and additional analysis required before any board decisions; the session was a work session, and no votes were taken.