The St. Joseph Public Schools (SJPS) Board of Education will embark on a new strategic planning process to develop the district’s long-range plan for improvement.
The new strategic planning process is data-driven and based on input from all stakeholder groups including students, parents, staff, and community members. The five year process, known as B.E.A.R. – Building Educational Achievement and Results – will produce a 4-year strategic plan outlining short-term, long-term, and ongoing goals for the district. The process will be repeated every five years to ensure that a consistent system of continuous improvement is in place for the district. The first strategic plan created from the process will be named B.E.A.R. I, and subsequent plans will be referenced as B.E.A.R. II, B.E.A.R. III, etc.
The development of B.E.A.R. I will be supported by stakeholder input gathered through eight focus groups and three surveys of students, parents, staff, and community members. Focus groups will be held this October and the survey windows will open in January and February of 2023. In April and May of next year, a strategic planning team will analyze gathered data and use that information to develop a new 4-year strategic plan – B.E.A.R. I. Prior to the 2023-2024 school year, the team will present the plan to the Board of Education and seek their formal approval.
The district has been operating under a short term strategic plan created prior to the arrival of the current superintendent and implemented at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. The current short-term strategic plan will continue to guide the district in the upcoming school year and be integrated into a new 4-year strategic plan, B.E.A.R. I, which will be implemented in the 2023-2024 school year.
Barry Conybeare, Board of Education President, expressed enthusiasm for the new strategic planning process.
“By undertaking the B.E.A.R. strategic planning process St. Joseph Public Schools will create a strong partnership with all stakeholders to design a vision for our schools that best meets the needs of our students and community,” he said. ” [We] will include the specific steps necessary to achieve that vision.”
– Submitted by SJPS
