District 113A Holds Special Meeting for Board Development, Strategic Planning

The Board of Education will hold a special meeting Tuesday to discuss board development and strategic planning.

Board members will hold a closed session meeting at 6 p.m. at , 16100 W. 127th St., to discuss "self-evaluation, practices and procedures or professional ethics" with Jeff Cohn, a field representative from the Illinois Association of School Boards.

The retreat is just one of the services offered by the IASB, which conducted the superintendent search in District 113A earlier this year.

During the session, board members will focus on communication, growth and long-term planning, according to District 113A Board President Dave Molitor.

Also on the agenda Tuesday is an update on a new strategic plan, which will outline the goals and vision of the district. 

District 113A Superintendent Susan Birkenmaier, who took office July 1, is required in her contract to develop a five-year strategic plan by March 1, 2013. The purpose of the planning process, according to the meeting agenda, is "to determine where the district wants to be in the future and what steps ar necessary to get to that point."

, Birkenmaier said developing a formal plan was something that was important to the board when they were hiring a new superintendent.

"Curriculum and classroom instruction will also be at the forefront," she said. "District 113A already has a strong curriculum, but we'll be looking at ways to maintain the success the district has seen in recent years with test scores and making AYP."

Last month, the board agreed that Birkenmaier and the administration should develop a plan using internal resources, rather than hire an outside consultant.

Birkenmaier said she would begin pulling together documents and examining the current mission statement to get a sense of where the district is and where it needs to be.

"The most time-consuming part of this will be initially just coming to some agreement on our mission and vision," Birkenmaier said. "Once we have that, we'll be able to work faster."

Birkenmaier said the administration will work as quickly as possible to meet the "aggressive March 1 deadline.

"It's going to take a lot of time and commitment on everyone's part," she said.

The proposed timeline for the plan is as follows:

• July 2012: Begin discussion on planning process development

• August 2012: Research and design internally driven plan process

• September 2012: Approve strategic plan facilitation process

• October/November 2012: Environmental scan, strategic planning committee member selection, vision and mission discussion/review

• December 2012/January 2013: Working backwards from the vision, develop desired outcomes, establish priorities and working goals to strive toward district vision

• February 2013: Prepare draft plan and refine as needed

• March 2013: Present final strategic plan for approval and dissemination

• March/April 2013: Prepare action plan and implementation timeline

For more information on Tuesday's special meeting, visit www.sd113a.org.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

There are plenty of ways to keep up on  news:

• Sign up for our daily email newsletter

• Like us on Facebook for a slightly different take.