Strategic Operating Plan is presented to board

By: 
Pete Temple
Express Associate Editor

     A detailed three-year Strategic Operating Plan was unveiled to the Monticello School Board as part of its monthly work session April 12 in the Administrative Board Room.

     There were two action items added to the meeting: The board approved Iowa Bankers Insurance & Services, Inc., as the district’s insurance broker/consultant for the 2017-18 school year; and approved the change from a fully-funded insurance plan to a partially self-funded plan.

     The majority of the meeting, however, involved the Strategic Operating Plan, which has been in the works for several weeks. It has enlisted the help of committees consisting of community members, parents, district leaders and employees.

     “It’s about including as many people as possible,” Superintendent Brian Jaeger told the board on Wednesday.

     The plan, designed to identify the Monticello Community School District’s priorities of focus over the next three years, is divided into four categories, each with its own committee and committee leaders: Facilities, Communication, Technology, and Teaching and Learning.

     School board approval – it could be up for vote at the April 24 regular meeting – will be required before any portion of the plan moves forward.

     At the forefront of the Facilities category, of course, is planning for school district building needs in the coming years. Jaeger spoke on that topic at the meeting, explaining that the Facilities plan will begin by developing a plan with the school board to investigate facility needs, assemble a School Facilities Committee to try to consider and narrow down facility options, and work toward a facility bond election before or during the 2018-19 school year.

     The Facilities part also includes a five-year plan for facility projects. Some of those are being taken care of currently, and some will be shortly – such as the track resurfacing that will begin this summer.

     Still others will be worked on over the next five years, including such items as alarm systems, and improving the drop off/pick up situation at the middle school.

     Jaeger also spoke about the Communication plan, covering such items as monthly newsletters, weekly bullet points from principals, monthly articles in the Express on curriculum, improving the communication of positive things going on in the school buildings, and working with social media.

     Curt Tauke spoke about the Technology plan, which focuses mostly on the goal of turning the MCSD into a 1-to-1 district, meaning one computer for each student in grades 3-4. He reported on the findings and goals of the Technology Steering Committee.

     Tauke laid out the timeline for 1-to-1, which will include upgrading infrastructure, annually purchasing Chromebooks – spread out over several years, professional development to help teachers learn to work in 1-to-1 classrooms, and finally, rolling out the plan in time for the 2018-19 school year.

     Kim Carlson spoke on the benefits of 1-to-1, saying studies have shown increases in skills, writing scores, science scores and more.

     Some details, such as which grades get to take their Chromebooks home each day and which ones will leave them at school, will need to be worked out, Tauke said. Issues involving insurance and repair will also be addressed.

     Grades K-2, Tauke said, will be assigned iPads that will stay at school in charging carts.

     Curriculum director Gretchen Kriegel presented about the final portion of the plan, Teaching and Learning. She divided it into three sections: Curriculum, Learning Supports, and Instruction and Assessment.

     The Curriculum plan would include Standards Referenced Reporting, which involves measuring students’ proficiency on learning objectives tied to proficiency standards. Kriegel said the goal is to go district-wide with SRR in time for the 2018-19 school year. Curriculum also includes identification of priority standards, and proficiency scales aligned to the standards.

     Instruction and Assessment includes formation of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW, statewide Early Literacy Implementation (ELI), and more.

     Among the Learning Supports are continued use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), switching from PowerSchool to PowerTeacherPro in time for the 2017-18 school year.

     Also included are continued improvements to at-risk programming, the gifted and talented program, and special education.

     In other action, the board:

     • went into closed session for superintendent evaluation.

     • went into exempt session for a strategy session.

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