By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — The Clarkston Community Schools Board of Education received another presentation on the ongoing work for the district’s new strategic plan during its meeting on Sept. 16. Giving the presentation to the board was, again, Nancy Mahoney, Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services and Staci Puzio, Director of Student Growth, Well-Being and Community Partnerships.
The current strategic plan is set to finish at the end of the current school year, with this new plan carrying the district through 2030.
Mahoney kicked the presentation off by reviewing the district’s mission and vision statement and explaining the district’s four primary goals: whole person development, foundational and academic skills, student-focused learning, and future pathways.
“Whole person development; this is all about well-being not only for students but this is for our staff as well as our community. Foundational and academic skills; this is where I tend to live the most in terms of academic achievement. Student-focused learning; looking at each student as an individual in terms of their assets and what they bring to the classroom each and every day. And then future pathways; what students are interested in and how we prepare them at the end of school,” Mahoney said.
There are 10 goals within each of the four pillars.
According to Mahoney, this year, the district is focusing on two main areas for both elementary and secondary education: multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) and social-emotional learning (SEL).
At an elementary level, the district has continued to embrace the MTSS process by focusing on tier one and tier two instruction in the classroom.
“Tier one is classroom instruction delivered by a teacher each and every day for every child and our goal is that, at least, research says, 80% of our students are successful with classroom tier one instruction,” Mahoney said. “Not all of our students are successful, we’re hoping for less than 20% and so that is tier two – what do we do for a second hit of instruction with our kids. Sometimes that is taught by our teacher within the classroom with smaller groups or sometimes they’re out with interventionists to receive that second hit of instruction.”
The district has also implemented a consistent Professional Learning Communities process to focus on students, what they are teaching and how they are teaching. They also revised the elementary MTSS handbook.
CCS is also on its second year of partnering with Oakland Schools for professional learning.
Lastly, when it comes to career-focused learning, the district has implemented career day, utilized Xello a college and career readiness software and used that to gauge student strengths and interest.
On a Social Emotional Learning level, the district has continued to implement emotional check-ins, movement opportunities, safe spot access and mindfulness/quiet time.
“We started these four key practices that are embedded into our pacing guide and part of our environment so that students have emotional check-ins. They’re meant to be very quick, ‘how are you doing, one to six? Happy? Sad?’ It could be a lot of different things but some way to give an indication to the teachers and the staff of how kiddos are doing,” Puzio said.
In the buildings, the district is working to increase and maintain social emotional learning supports and implement consistent crisis protocols.
Student safety continues to be important for the district by continuing to maintain consistency and documentation for threat and risk assessments. The district is still involved with the Handle with Care program, a statewide program which allows police to notify schools when a student should be “handled with care.”
Lastly, the district is continuing many of its partnerships with the community including LaFontaine and Easterseals and has also continued to encourage family and parent engagement and expand supports for basic needs of students and around the holidays.
Additional information regarding the district’s new strategic plan, including timeline and committee members can be found online at www.clarkston.k12.mi.us/about-us/strategic-plan-2025-2030.
From August through December of this year, the team is expected to analyze spring feedback, finalize pillars and goals and synthesize the district’s community survey.
Starting in January through May of next year, the team is planning to develop strategies and get approval from the Board of Education.
See next week’s edition of The Clarkston News for an overview of the district’s strategic plan at the secondary level.