MDUSD Strategic Planning Input Session /meeting tonight 7pm

Tonight, Saturday, May 14th strategic planning input meeting is slated to begin at 7pm at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, located at 399 Wiget Lane in Walnut Creek.   

Has anyone attended one of these meetings?  What did you think?

The next one is Monday night at 7pm at Concord High School, and following Thursday, May 19th at 7pm at Riverview Middle School.

You can always look at the district main website for any questions as to when  or where something is happening:

http://www.mdusd.org/Pages/default.aspx

Remember too, there are district wide budget meetings, open to the public, twice a week at the Dent Center (MDUSD Headquarters).   The next one is coming Monday, May 16th at 4:30pm.  Following, is the last one on Weds May 18 at 6:30pm.

Strategic Planning - your input is requested

Sherry Whitmarsh has posted information about upcoming dates for strategic planning community meetings .

You can find the dates on Sherry's website:
http://mdusd-boe.blogspot.com/2011/04/youre-input-is-requested-for-strategic.html

She's also got links to a model plan. We know you all have a lot to say, so hopefully you will all participate in the process.

The dates are also in this district email:

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District is beginning a strategic planning process.  A straw model of strategic intents has been developed.  Each strategic intent has been defined and a list of potential goals has been identified.  Our next step is to review the work with the community and get feedback.  To this end, fifteen community input sessions have been scheduled for May and June.  Each session will review the strategic intents and definitions.  The community will give input on the goals: should any be changed, are any goals missing, and what are the concerns or issues for the goals. 

You are invited to attend one of the community input sessions listed below:

·        Monday, May 2, 7:00 p.m., Clayton Valley High School Multi Use Room

·        Tuesday, May 3, 7:00 p.m., Mt. Diablo High School Multi Use Room

·        Thursday, May 5, 7:00 p.m., Northgate High School Multi Use Room

·        Monday, May 9, 7:00 p.m., College Park High School Multi Use Room

·        Wednesday, May 11, 4:00 p.m., Monte Gardens Elementary Multi Use Room (geared for staff input)

·        Thursday, May 12, 7:00 p.m., Ygnacio Valley High School Multi Use Room

·        Saturday, May 14, 9:00 a.m., TBD

·        Monday, May 16, 7:00 p.m., Concord High School Multi Use Room

·        Tuesday, May 17, 7:00 p.m., Dent Center (geared for Community Advisory Committee)

·        Wednesday, May 19, 7:00 p.m., Riverview Middle School Multi Use Room

·        Wednesday, June 1, 7:00 p.m., (geared for Parent Advisory Committee)

·        Thursday, June 2, 7:00 p.m., Willow Creek Center  (geared for Foundations)

·        Wednesday, June 15, 7:00 p.m., Dent Center (geared for Measure C Oversight Committee)

·        Wednesday, June 15, 7:00 p.m., Willow Creek Center

·        Thursday, June 16, 7:00 p.m., Dent Center (geared for Measure C Oversight Committee)

Strategic Planning in MDUSD takes a leap toward reality

In some good news coming out of the MDUSD, the "plan" for strategic planning is starting to take shape.  In case you missed item 14.11 at the last board meeting, it was all about strategic planning.  First, on the agenda was posted an Input Session plan, and a draft of a 2010-2015 strategic plan itself.  The timelines for public input on the document shows public input will begin with meetings at the various feeder pattern high schools starting in May, and continue at a middle school, then with the various district committees, community groups, foundations, seniors and staff. 

In correspondence with Brian Lawrence, a Concord father, he has some ideas of what a strategic plan should address and his thoughts.  It is worthy of sharing and I hope we can begin an open discussion about what a strategic plan should be for our district.  Below are his thoughts and questions.  What do you think?

On Feb. 23, the Mt. Diablo School Board voted unanimously to refrain from closing any additional schools at this time. School closure is unfortunate and it has certainly been a painful process here in MDUSD. We do, however, have the opportunity to consider and remedy the cause of school closures- a steady decline in student enrollment. If we don’t deal with this problem, we will inevitably be faced with closing even more schools in the future.

The District states that declining enrollment in MDUSD has not resulted in an increase in private school enrollment over the same period. It has been argued that declining enrollment is merely reflective of a low birth rate. This neglects the fact that in adjacent school districts, such as San Ramon, they are actually seeing an increase in student enrollment.

Parents of school age children are voting with their wallets and their feet—they are moving out of MDUSD. Many parents calculate the cost of private school tuition and decide the money would be better spent on a mortgage in a different school district. The number-one factor in purchasing a home for most parents of school-aged kids is the school system—the negative perception of MDUSD has a huge impact on every homeowner in the area. In aggregate, it is tens of millions of dollars in lost home value.

So how do we solve this problem? There have been past attempts to pass a parcel tax to provide more funds for the district. A parcel tax requires 2/3 approval in order to pass. There is zero chance that will happen without the District doing a better job of articulating how the money will be spent and restoring trust in the District.

Several people have offered a strategic plan as a first step towards a solution, but there has not been very much discussion about what that plan might actually look like. A strategic plan is only as good as the people who create and implement it.

In order for a strategic plan to be successful, people have to buy in to it. All of the different stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, staff, business leaders, etc.) need to have a voice in the process. It needs to be something that drives all of the decisions made by the District. It cannot merely become a forgotten document in a dusty binder that sits on a desk.

If we had a strategic plan tomorrow, would it eliminate the need for school closures? No. If we had a strategic plan a year ago, would it have changed the need for school closures? I have no idea, but it is a waste of time to point fingers and rehash the past.

We can, however, avoid closing schools in the future. Mt. Diablo can become a  district that families are running towards, not running from. We need to have a clear, common vision of how we get there and the strategic plan can play a vital role in that.

The strategic plan must address questions such as:

• How do we best measure student achievement?
• How do we attract and retain top teachers?
• What role, if any, do choice schools play in the district? Charter schools?
• What infrastructure is needed to execute the strategic plan?
• How can we best serve the needs of Special Education students?
• What percentage of graduates are expected to go to a four- year college? How do we best prepare them for that?
• What role does technology play in the District?
• Is vocational training needed for students who may not go on to college?
• How long will it take for English Language learning students to become fluent?
• What consultants are needed for the district to succeed? What should we expect of full-time employees?

These are just a few of the types of questions that a strategic plan will address. Part of the process of strategic planning is to actually decide on the questions that need to be answered.

Some people say that strategic planning is expensive and will require high-paid consultants. I disagree.

The best example of a strategic plan is the Constitution of the United States. It has been a framework for our government for over 220 years. It did not require high-priced consultants—no one from Bain or McKinsey was needed to facilitate the discussion. All that was needed was a group of concerned, passionate citizens to come together and develop a shared vision.

The MDUSD Board took a step in the right direction at the March 29th meeting by laying  out a format for a strategic plan. It will take a lot more than just the five board members to make this a reality.

What is your vision for a strategic plan for MDUSD? What questions should it answer? Are you willing to work together to develop it and move this school district forward?