k‐12 strategic plan - spearfish school districtspearfish.k12.sd.us/district/strategic...

Spearfish School District 40-2 Strategic Plan 2017-2021

Approved by the Spearfish School District 40-2 Board of Education 7-10-17 www.spearfish.k12.sd.us

SPEARFISH SCHOOL DISTRICT 40-2 Strategic Plan 2017-2021

Spearfish School District 40-2 2 Strategic Plan 2017-2021

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUPERINTENDENT’S WELCOME 4 BOARD PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 GETTING STARTED—WHAT IS STRATEGIC PLANNING? 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 PLANNING SESSIONS & DEFINITIONS 10 VISION, GUIDING VALUES, AND MISSION 12 THE WAY WE ACHIEVE SUCCESS 13 FOUNDATIONAL PILLARS & FOCUS AREAS 14 ACTION PLANS & EXECUTION 16 ACCOUNTABILITY & CLOSING STATEMENTS 17


In January of 2017, the Spearfish School District initiated the process of creating a five-year strategic plan. The Board enlisted students, parents, staff and community members to engage in discussions that aided in the creation of our strategic plan. The plan focuses on our vision for the future of the school district, defines our mission and guiding values and provides pillars of focus that will guide us in our decisions to strengthen our effort to provide every child with a safe, healthy, engaging, supportive and challenging learning environment. The strategic planning process has helped us to narrow our organizational focus on four distinct pillars that strengthen our core beliefs and ensure that all of our students graduate high school ready to enter college, or a career, with the skills they need to succeed. The strategic plan will incorporate the benefits of both long and short term planning encapsulated in a philosophy of ongoing, regularly scheduled, annual goal setting sessions, reviews and modifications. The goal setting process involves the establishment of outcomes that we call “priorities”, clearly defined action steps to achieve the priorities and mobilization of local resources. Here are five reasons why strategy plays such an important role in our school district’s success: 1. Planning—Creating and tracking progress against annual goals, based on a strategic plan, is an essential management tool for our district. With a clear picture of what we want our future graduates to look like, we hope to be more proactive in our approach rather than reactive. 2. Strengths & Weaknesses—Strategy creates a higher level of awareness of our strengths and weaknesses and provides greater focus on activities that will make the school district more successful. 3. Skills & Knowledge—If we know where we want to take our school district over the long term, we will have a much better idea of the kinds of capabilities we will need to achieve our goals. By proactively pursuing new skills and knowledge, we increase our odds of being successful. 4. Resource Allocation—One thing is clear about school districts in South Dakota—resources are finite. A strategic plan will guide the district with decisions that are critical to ensuring that limited resources are being deployed to the most promising opportunities that will provide the greatest return. 5. Environmental Scan—Being aware of our stakeholders’ perceptions are important for understanding where we are now, as well as aiding us in decisions that will affect our future. In closing, I would like to thank everyone who took the time out of their busy schedules to engage in the necessary and important conversations that guided the creation of the strategic plan, as well as aiding us in defining what our short-term and long-term priorities should encompass. I am extremely optimistic that by working collaboratively with our community, the Spearfish School District will continue to build on its strengths and take advantage of opportunities to foster a district where equity and excellence thrive and empowers all students to succeed in a changing world.

Kirk Easton, Superintendent Spearfish School District

SUPERINTENDENT’S WELCOME


BOARD PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The strategic planning process has been very interesting and

enlightening. It has brought a diverse group of community

members, educators and students together with a common goal:

How do we better focus the direction and priorities of the Spearfish

School District? I haven't had any new earthshaking revelations,

but instead, confirmation that everyone has a similar goal in

providing the best education possible for every student. The open

dialogue has fostered better trust among parties. In the long term,

we are getting a better picture of where resources and time need

to be directed. Whether we need to focus on facilities and/or

areas of weakness in student performance, when we have written

goals and direction, it is easier to achieve our goals and bring

people together to focus on them.

A huge “Thanks” to everyone who participated in the strategic

planning process. Your time and ideas have been valuable and

greatly appreciated! We look forward to using the strategic plan

to continue improving the Spearfish School District.

Jeff Sleep, Board President

Spearfish School District

LEVERAGING RESOURCES FOR

MEASURABLE IMPROVED RESULTS

The Spearfish School District Board of

Education provides support to foster and

enhance our curriculum and services,

instructional frameworks and student and

family engagement. The Board responsibly

leverages resources for the school district

through:

student-centered focus.

effective governance.

strong public accountability.

solid guiding values.

community support for equity,

excellence and empowerment in

education.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Gratitude… The Spearfish School District planning process involved many internal and external stakeholders in developing a plan that describes visionary aspirations needed for the District’s mission success. Thank you to the board, staff, parents and community members who provided their input and selfless efforts in the strategic planning process. We especially appreciate those who now advocate for students and hold us accountable in the pursuit of equity, excellence and empowerment; —everyday, for every student. Respectfully, Kirk Easton Superintendent

STEERING TEAM:

Board of Education

Jeff Sleep,

President

Amy Cermak,

Vice President

Mistie Caldwell

Nancy Hall

Mitch Hopewell

Administration

Kirk Easton, Superintendent Jordan Bauer, HS Activities Director Craig Crosswait, Business Manager Nick Gottlob, Mtn. View/East Elem. Principal Sarah Heilman, Special Services Director Don Lyon, Middle School Principal Steve Morford, High School Principal Dan Olson, Creekside Elem. Principal

STAKEHOLDERS:

Staff:

Ashley Custis Jill Drolc Cori Engelhart Pat Gainey Sydney Haugland Ashleigh Hoff Kathy Kellogg Jennifer McBurnett Rick Meyerink Melissa Ruml Patti Schladweiler Marilee Woodard Parents/Community: Sharman Adams Randy Deibert Tom Deis Angie Duncan Scott Duncan Traci Isburg Cherise Lerew Will McIlroy Ryan Meredith Cher Rhoades Kevin Rhoades Jason Roberdeau Lynnett Rotert Dana Sneesby Matt Weigel Students: Brendan Rotert Griffin Smith Hannah Young


GETTING STARTED

WHAT A STRATEGIC PLAN IS

A self-crafted roadmap to guide the Spearfish School District’s decisions, growth and innovation in order to realize its collective vision and mission.

A clearly defined and communicated macro-picture, values-based and student-focused pathway to achieve goals and objectives.

A living and fluid document that will be regularly reviewed and potentially revised for continuous improvement.

An evolving framework that answers where we are today, where we want to go in the future, and how we are going to get there.

WHAT A STRATEGIC PLAN IS NOT

A static document

A daily operations plan

A state of the school district annual report

All things to all people.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Education is an investment in our children’s future, our community’s future, and our world’s future. The Spearfish School District (SSD) is committed to investing in education excellence and leveraging resources in order to make an impactful difference for our children’s todays and tomorrows. The Spearfish School District 2017-2021 Strategic Plan serves as a lens of that promise and responsibility through a clear vision, guiding values, a purposeful mission and measurable priorities under our four foundational pillars:

RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT

TEACHING AND

LEARNING

COMMUNITY

COLLABORATION

CLIMATE AND

CULTURE

Strategic planning is viewed as a best practice in accelerating goals. It is a proven structure used by SSD to assess where the Spearfish School District is today, where it wants to be in the future, what does it want to do, and how will it do it. In January 2017, the Spearfish School Board approved to embark in a customized strategic planning process to ensure the District is proactively meeting the needs of students and aligning resources for child-centric environments. A customized strategic planning process embedded with long-term, macro-picture planning, leadership development, and community collaboration will guide the District through the next five years and beyond.

The customized strategic planning process for the Spearfish School District is comprised of four phases:

REVIEW AND AMEND

EXECUTE DEVELOP

DISCOVER AND PLAN


Strategic planning is never-ending. The District takes pride in this comprehensive process, the collective planning culture now established and the contents of the plan. The plan will continually cycle through our vision-driven annual priorities development, mission-focused strategies, annual budgeting, resources alignment and evaluation systems.

It serves primarily as a compass for future action plans and a direction tool for authentic implementation and systematic reviews. Moreover, the plan supports the district’s unified and daily inspiration that “together”, we will remain committed to an intentionally designed framework that shapes the future of education for all students.

Spearfish School District strives to serve all students, no matter their background or post-secondary plans. In the 2015-2016 and the 2016-2017 school years, the Spearfish School District attained its respected brand as an educational leader in South Dakota by showcasing students’ higher than state average proficiency percentages in various subjects and higher than average ACT test scores. Spearfish School District is also recognized as one of South Dakota’s top most cost-efficient school districts. However, with climbing enrollment and uncertain resources, the District is experiencing a sense of urgency to maintain current, relevant and rigorous programming, quality services and personal growth activities provided in a safe and supportive environment for the students. This plan is vital for our schools as we incorporate strategies and measurable outcomes into our daily school work.

Spearfish Schools are a reflection of our community and without community engagement, the critical linkage to our schools is at-risk. High stakeholder involvement in the planning process generates better outcomes and a greater sense of community collaboration. Therefore, the strategic planning process is not done in isolation. The District not only opened communication channels through the community-wide pre-process survey, but also invited Spearfish community members and vested interest stakeholders to visioning and goal development sessions.

The community survey, conducted by the District in January 2017, provides valuable data that will continually assist the District throughout the life of the Plan to improve systems, set goals and identify priorities. 278 responses were received with questions focusing on: Core Values, Spearfish School District Strengths, Areas of Improvement, Mission Opportunities, Envisioning Success, Evaluation Mechanisms and Safety and Security.

In recent years, a myriad of political, economic, social and technological factors have posed significant challenges for the district as well as the community. These factors may affect SSD’s position as a model of excellence in education. Engaging additional SSD staff, parents, community members and students in the strategic planning process allows diverse perspectives and volumes of expertise to explore these potential factors as they relate to projected goals. Specifically, the stakeholders were challenged at the March 2017 Retreat to complete the S.L.O.T. (Strengths, Limitations, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis. As an in-depth assessment tool, this exercise serves as an interpretative filter that reveals potential areas of focus under the respective Pillars for the 2017-2021 Spearfish School District Strategic Plan.

This is an exciting time for the Spearfish School District, as this plan guides our professional practices through the priorities and objectives across the entire district to ensure that all students have opportunities to succeed without exception. We are proud to extend Spearfish School District’s tradition of excellences to meet today’s challenges through academic and personal achievements in partnership with our students, families and the Spearfish community.


PLANNING SESSIONS & DEFINITIONS

PLANNING SESSIONS BOARD/STEERING TEAM MEETING #1 - JANUARY 23, 2017

Reviewed SSD’s strategic planning objectives, approach, elements, timelines, roles and responsibilities.

Introduced highlighted themes from the 2017 SSD Strategic Planning Survey.

Established initial vision statement and values concepts.

Conducted a brief internal and external assessment to identify potential strategic plan goal areas.

Explored and developed preliminary long-range goal Pillars and Objectives.

Assigned subcommittee tasks to craft vision statement and guiding values drafts.

Incorporated leadership development and communication strategies within the strategic planning process.

STAKEHOLDERS‘ ENGAGEMENT INFORMATIONAL MEETING - FEBRUARY 21, 2017

Engaged SSD stakeholders to ensure diverse perspectives and community participation for SSD’s strategic planning process.

Educated SSD stakeholders on SSD’s customized strategic planning objectives, approach, timelines and elements.

Listened and gathered stakeholder input for SSD’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan.

Advanced the development for SSD’s Vision statement and Guiding Values.

Brainstormed Key Indicators for the draft Pillars goal categories.

Provided a networking platform for SSD Board Members, administrators and participating stakeholders.

BOARD/STEERING TEAM MEETING #2 - MARCH 6, 2017 Explored SSD Board Members’ and Administrators’ decision-making perspectives and leadership balance.

Refined the proposed Vision statement drafts; Guiding Values and definitions.

Refined the proposed 2017-2021 Spearfish School District Strategic Plan Pillars/goal categories.

Established Pillar subcommittees to draft definitions for the proposed Pillars/goal categories.

Assessed and affirmed SSD’s current Mission statement.

Incorporated personal and leadership development activities. STAKEHOLDER RETREAT - MARCH 23, 2017

Reviewed SSD’s proposed Vision, Guiding Values and Mission.

Solidified SSD’s proposed Pillars.

Conducted a Strengths, Limitations, Opportunities and Threats (S.L.O.T.) Analysis for each Pillar.

Crafted initial Objectives for each Pillar.

Captured potential Priorities/Strategies.

Incorporated leadership development activities. BOARD/STEERING TEAM MEETING #3 - APRIL 13, 2017

Reviewed SSD’s proposed Vision, Guiding Values & Mission.

Confirmed SSD’s proposed Pillars.

Refined SSD’s proposed Objectives.

Introduced Issues to Priorities Development tools.

Discussed the SSD 2017 – 2021 Strategic Plan formal document outline.

Previewed additional action planning, review processes & tracking tools.

BOARD/STEERING TEAM MEETING #4 - MAY 8, 2017

Requested the SSD Board of Education to adopt the proposed Vision, Guiding Values, Mission, Pillars and Objectives.

Reviewed the draft copy of the Spearfish School District 2017-2021 Strategic Plan.

Established action planning processes to develop short-term and long-term Priorities and Strategies.


BOARD/STEERING TEAM MEETING #5 - JUNE 13, 2017

Developed 2017-2018 school year Priorities and Strategies that align with the Strategic Plan.

Identified prospective Priorities and Strategies for future annual action plans. BOARD/STEERING TEAM MEETING #6 - July 10, 2017

Approved 2017-2021 Strategic Plan and 2017-2018 Priorities. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————--

DEFINITIONS ACTION PLAN: An action plan is the detailed internal implementation

outline that charts short and long-term actionable priorities and strategies

to achieve goals and declares the expected outcomes/key indicators for

completing the work.

GUIDING VALUES: Values express the standards by which the Spearfish

School District conducts its business. These overarching centric values will

guide daily behaviors and decisions for sustaining SSD for the future as well

as the manner in which relationships and partnerships will be molded.

Values create the ethical foundation for all district decisions.

KEY INDICATORS: Key indicators define the objectives’ achievement and

results. They are measurable outcomes that state long-term change and

value for achieving the pillars’ objectives and reaching the target goals. Key

indicators broadcast expected changes that SSD’s objective outputs will

accomplish. Key indicators ensure that SSD is measuring for the most

important gauges for mission and strategic plan success.

MISSION: A Mission statement should define Spearfish School District’s

ground level purpose for which it exists. By refining its mission, the Spearfish

School District will clearly vocalize its common cause, action-oriented

objectives and the impact on those benefitting from the compelling mission

pledge. While the vision expresses SSD’s dreams, the mission states specifics

to reach the vision.

FOCUS AREAS: Objectives are the narrowing of focus areas to specific

output expectations by the Spearfish School District. They answer more

specific questions such as: What strengths do we maximize? What

opportunities do we seize? What limitations do we invest resources? What

threats do we mitigate? What are the keys to achieve areas of growth and

achievement?

FOUNDATIONAL PILLARS: Pillars are broad focus areas and aspirations that

target the specific direction for SSD to fulfill its mission. Pillars are the

centric issues SSD must address for long-term sustainability.

PRIORITIES: Priorities are SSD’s most important and strategically designed

initiatives to address under the focus areas. They are the results of intensive

discussions as part of SSD’s annual budgeting process.

STAKEHOLDERS: Spearfish School District stake-holders include anyone

who is invested in the welfare and success of the district’s schools and

students.

STRATEGIES: Strategies are the measurable intentions and/or courses of

action to execute under the priorities in order to reach the desired key

indicators.

STRATEGIC PLAN: The Spearfish School District 2017-2021 Strategic Plan is a

guide for the School Board, administrators and staff in their decision-making

processes and outline realistic yet challenging outcomes for increased

student achievement, community engagement, sound management, and

effective stewardship. The Plan includes SSD’s vision, values, mission, critical

goal pillars and objectives in order to formulate the action plans with annual

priorities and accountable strategies.

STRATEGIC THINKING: Strategic Thinking means to be informed and

consciously responsive to a dynamic environment. For the Spearfish School

District, it requires attention to the long-term, “big picture” and willingness

to change for continuous improvement.

VISION: A Vision statement expresses SSD’s unified direction from the

30,000-foot level. It articulates SSD’s verbal portrait of success for which it

strives to reach, become, create and achieve.


MISSION, VISION & GUIDING VALUES

MISSION

The way we define our purpose…

Empowering All Students to Succeed in a Changing World.

VISION

The way we envision success...

In partnership with our community, the Spearfish School District prepares

graduates who are respectful, responsible and engaged citizens. Through

equitable access to high academics, social and applied learning, students are

inspired to excel in college, careers and life.

GUIDING

VALUES

The way we make decisions…

EQUITY— Equity means that all students have equal access to quality staff, courses,

activities, services and resources based on their individual needs.

EXCELLENCE—Excellences means that students achieve at their highest potential and

develop their capacity to succeed in educational and career pathways of their choice.

EMPOWERMENT—Empowerment means that students will gain the ability and the authority

to make decisions in their own learning.


THE WAY WE ACHIEVE SUCCESS

VISION

GUIDING

VALUES MISSION

PILLARS

FOCUS AREAS

PRIORITIES

STRATEGIES AND KEY INDICATORS

Success does not happen by accident. The diagram above illustrates the connection of all our strategic planning components for the Spearfish School District 2017-2021 Strategic Plan in regards to who we are, what we stand for, what we strive to become, and how we will get there.


FOUNDATIONAL PILLARS AND FOCUS AREAS

TEACHING AND

LEARNING

The process and impact of curriculum,

instruction and assessment in the

Spearfish School District leading to

measurable, continuous improvement.

FOCUS AREAS:

Curriculum

Instruction

Programming

Professional Development

RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT

The efficient planning, acquisition

and allocation of the fiscal, physical

and human resources to achieve the

mission of the school district.

FOCUS AREAS:

Human Resources

Fiscal Resources

Facility Resources


COMMUNITY

COLLABORATION

The cooperative actions, planning and

support capitalizing on the strengths

and resources of the school system

and the Spearfish community creating a

synergy to improve student learning.

FOCUS AREAS:

Communications

Community Resources

Community Engagement

Community Partnerships

CLIMATE AND

CULTURE

The shared and supported beliefs,

values and norms that guide and

influence school relationships and

decision-making.

FOCUS AREAS:

Relationships

Character Development

Physical Safety

Emotional Safety


ACTION PLANS & EXECUTION

ACTION PLANS

Strategic planning requires macro-picture thinkers and the discipline

to develop and communicate clear action plans. Although the initial

strategic planning development phase solidified our vision, guiding,

values, mission, pillars and focus areas we know that implementing

big picture strategies takes time; that resources and conditions may

delay some of what we would like to accomplish under our pillars. On

an annual basis, the School Board, administrators and educators will

develop resources. The detailed action plans for those priorities will

list specific strategies, target dates, responsible parties, projected

costs and collaboration partners.

How does it all fit together?

School District 2017-2021 Plan

Annual Board Priorities

District Wide School’s Annual

Action Plans Improvement Plans

Detailed Strategies Detailed Strategies

& Key Indicators & Key Indicators

It is important to understand that short-term and long-range

priorities will remain fluid throughout the life of the strategic plan

due to the influences of internal and external factors. These

unpredictable considerations and trends may shift the District’s focus

and/or offer new opportunities for existing pillars and focus areas.

Hence, the Spearfish School District 2017-2021 Strategic Plan will

remain dynamic in nature.

EXECUTION

Implementation of the strategic plan begins

with the end in mind—the Spearfish School

District vision. With the strategic plan rollout

scheduled for the Fall of 2017, all board

members and district staff will become familiar

with the plan and identify how it affects their

daily work. Throughout the execution phase,

we will create numerous communication touch

points that allows us to inform, collaborate

with and engage district stakeholders.

Although developing the four pillars as SSD’s

strategic foundation building blocks was an

arduous task, executing subsequent action

plans is not without its challenges. Therefore, a

“back to basics” approach is critical for keeping

the “main things”, the “main things”:

1. Narrow the “big-picture” priorities

2. Act on the lead strategies within the

priorities under each pillar.

3. Report, track, communicate and lead.

4. Create accountability practices.


ACCOUNTABILITY & CLOSING STATEMENTS

ACCOUNTABILITY

The Superintendent of Schools manages the detailed spreadsheets for leadership, monitoring and tracking processes. A systemic

approach to reviewing, and updating our strategic plan by the school board and administration, ensures the Spearfish school system is

proactive to continuous improvement for meeting the needs of students. Quarterly and annually reviews help track on-going

implementation of the prioritized strategies, measure key indicators, identify challenges and develop solutions. We remain disciplined in

our reviewing practices, progress reporting and communicating the execution status to our valued stakeholders. Along the way, we look

forward to improving professional practices for all aspects of the school system and celebrate successes.

CLOSING STATEMENTS

Our vision is clear. Our guiding values anchor us with foundational beliefs for decision-making. Our mission is unwavering to prepare

students with essential skills and empower them to be successful as they navigate through an ever-changing global society. Our pillars

challenge us with innovative, proactive and bold priorities. The Spearfish School District 2017-2021 Strategic Plan serves as the over-

arching guide, and framework for supporting our schools and community.

Now is the time to use the Strategic Plan as a springboard to mobilize Spearfish School District to direct, inspire, align, engage and

mentor. As we move forward, and when we all work together to implement the vision-driven and mission-focused Spearfish School

District 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, we support all students to acquire the skills, knowledge and preparation they deserve and need, to

graduate and succeed in life. This is not the end, but the beginning of a refreshed guide for the Board, educators, parents, students and

community members as we collectively work toward our vision, common four pillar focus areas, and mission of Empowering All

Students to Succeed in a Changing World.


SPEARFISH SCHOOL DISTRICT 40-2

To learn more about the Spearfish School District

2017-2021 Strategic Plan contact:

Spearfish School District

523 E. Illinois Street

Spearfish, SD 57783

(605) 717-1201

www.spearfish.k12.sd.us

Strategic planning facilitation services provided by:

Susan L. Konstant, President/Owner

PO Box 172, Spearfish, SD 57783

(605) 641-9591

[email protected]

www.pacestrategicdevelopment.com

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