By Megan Kelley
Clarkston News Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — At its meeting on April 15, the Clarkston Community Schools Board of Education reviewed the current status of the district’s new strategic plan.
“We’re very early on in this process. We looked at our previous strategic plan that has served the district extremely well and what a high degree of reciprocity, involvement and engagement that it had and it was very much our guidepost,” said Superintendent Dr. Shawn Ryan. “You can’t go through a meeting in Clarkston or any type of planning session without a reference to our strategic plan. It’s a very living document and it had a lot of hands on it to go through.”
The district’s strategic plan is expected to be implemented in the fall of 2025 and serve as a guide for the district to 2030.
Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services Nancy Mahoney was in attendance to walk the board through the first steps of the process.
Mahoney discussed the mission statement, vision statement, the strategic plan team and timeline.
Mahoney also sought feedback from the board with the mission and vision statements, noting that she believes their current statements only need a little rewording but are ultimately still very strong in their messaging.
The strategic planning team consists of a number of people spanning from central office staff, building administrators, teachers and board members to parents and community members.
“It’s a wide range, I think, of lenses when it comes to this community and serving our students and staff as well as our families,” Mahoney said.
The first meeting of the strategic planning team was on April 18. From there until June, the team will review the district’s mission, vision, pillars and goals as well as perform an environmental scan to gather data and hold a community survey.
From August to December, the team will review the research and finalize the pillars and goals.
After the new year, in January 2025 until May, they will develop strategies and create a new strategic plan timeline.