May 4, 2021 at 8:16 a.m.
School board approves strategic plan for continuous improvement
School board approves strategic plan for continuous improvement
One tool that caught on quickly was Plus-Delta as a way to get quick feedback after a meeting.
"We have a team of about 45 people in our district that were part of that (drafting the plan), and they brought it back to their buildings," Burke said. "This plan has a full three full cycles of Plus-Delta, which allows for the feedback with you, and our full staff."
He said the plan was fine tuned by the operations and strategic planning committee and even down to the classroom level of every building.
"We're very proud of the work, and believe it represents our best plan for improvement, and also measures for growth for the areas that will be important to us as we go forward," Burke said.
The plan utilizes a 1-5 rating system that is used to score how well the components of the four core areas of everything from an individual classroom to the entire district stack up.
"As a district, we will look at how well we do in those four core areas," Burke said. "And some of the questions like, how is the rating or percentage come about? And that led to the discussion of what is important? They're all important, but just because something is at 10% compared to 40%."
He said there was a lot of discussion at the team level and even including some staff members on the percentages before they were finalized. Some of the things involved in the ratings will happen annually while others will occur quarterly, monthly or even more frequently. The annual Department of Public Instruction school and district report cards released in the fall will be the last measure that goes into each area's final report of the year.
He said this is the first of three puzzle pieces that will be the cornerstones of the plan.
Burke said that customizing the plan for individual schools is to take the core focuses and concentrating "on making it personal to their abilities." The breakdown also includes each individual administrative department being graded on how well it accomplishes the core values.
"They are going to have their own goals for their area," Burke said. "That's happening right now."
He said the third piece of the puzzle will also happen in the fall when the system reaches the classroom level. While teachers have always set sub-goals within their teaching goals, the strategic plan will make sure these sub-goals are connected to the goals of each building.
"A year from now, we'll be able to look at this and be able to talk as a group and talk with administration and say, this needs some changes or this might need some tweaks, or we might have to look at defining this better," Burke said. "But it's gonna take a year or maybe two years to really get into this and make sure it really is something that is going to advance Rhinelander, and also each building."
He said that with board approval, the plan can be fully implemented.
While Judy Conlin gave a detailed 13-minute take on the plan, suggesting quite a few tweaks, the eight other members of the board were content to approve it as submitted, and Conlin voted aye when the question was called. Several said they understood the document "was a living, breathing" thing that will change over time.
The full plan can be viewed at https://www.rhinelander.k12.wi.us/district/StrategicPlan.pdf.
After dispensing with the strategic plan, the board turned its attention to election of officers for the 2021-22 school year, with the past slate being re-elected as the only nominees. Ron Counter remains president, Conlin vice president, Mary Peterson clerk and Mike Roberts as treasurer.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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