Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 is launching a strategic planning process to define the future direction for district schools, guided by input from across the community, including parents, other community members staff, teachers and students.
“We want to hear and solicit input from the community,” Superintendent Keisha Campbell said in a conversation with Pioneer Press. “We have really created a streamlined process in order to engage stakeholders and give them input and voice.”
In a release, district officials said the aim was to develop a shared future vision for the district. Efforts to involve stakeholders from every corner of the community will result in a long-term framework for decision-making that builds upon the common values held by the community. Completion of the process is set for early fall of the 2022-2023 school year.
That process will begin this month (March) with an online survey. The survey is expected to be open to all for about two weeks. District officials are using postcard mailings, ads in local media and other outreach to encourage wide participation in the survey. Campbell called the survey the first action item for the community in the planning process.
Campbell said the district also plans to engage small focus groups to draw input from parents, community members, students and district employees. Student participation is to include representative students from York High School and the district’s three middle schools.
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The strategic planning process, Campbell said, “(will provide) a common framework for how we’re going to move forward, implementing best practices and measuring outcomes and communicating those key indicators of success.”
Campbell said a strategic planning committee made up of a variety of stakeholders including community members and teachers has already been established. Committee members will review insights and priorities gathered in the survey and focus groups. Work sessions will then be conducted to develop a mission, vision, portrait of a District 205 graduate, core values and strategic goals with objectives.
The aim, Campbell said, is for the strategic planning committee members to present a report on their work to members of the district’s Board of Education at their meeting on June 14.
More information is available on the District 205 website at: Strategic Planning Process — Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 (elmhurst205.org)
Campbell called the strategic planning process an exciting time for the district and its stakeholders. She stressed that “all community members are invited to participate” in the survey, including community members who don’t have children in district schools.
In a release on the project, district officials say they are partnering with Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates (HYA), to conduct the strategic planning process. Based in Schaumburg, Illinois, HYA has a 35-year history of partnering with school districts to improve student outcomes.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.