Planning for the future

Patrick Low, superintendent of St. Regis School District, sat in an empty room Saturday. A meeting was scheduled to discuss the third draft of the school's strategic plan. And while no one showed up to offer any comments on the plan, Low said that board members as well as himself have received input on the plan in passing, whether at the grocery store or at sports camps.

The board finished with the previous strategic plan and so last August, Low said that they, "began planning to garner input from staff, parents, board members, community members and the school board association with regard to what a viable strategic plan would look like."

"The idea would be that it would serve us for the upcoming five years but really encourages the district to look out ten, fifteen twenty years or more," Low said.

In the plan, the core purpose of the district states that St. Regis Public Schools, in partnership with the community, exists to provide all students with a high quality education through diversity of programs, character building and recognition and appreciation of the differences in people. The plan goes on to state that the core values of the district are student achievement; open mindedness; pride in community and school; putting students first; a safe and positive learning environment; and respect, accountability, commitment, honesty and work ethic.

Low said that a key element of the plan is that all students can learn and all students can be successful.

"We embrace the idea that success needs to be determined and measured in part by students and parents," Low said "We see our role as providing basic skills to them, but then as they get older and move through high school, providing them an opportunity to explore different career areas so that by the time they leave as a graduate, they continue to have a learning plan in place for life."

Low said that as a district, they also believe that teaching students how to be critical thinkers, how to discern what is true and what is factual in the world, is important as he stated there is so much "propaganda in front of us all the time." He said the scientific inquiry model, which is another key element, fits into this, which allows students to identify a question, research it, to test their hypothesis through trial and error, and ultimately find out if their hypothesis was accurate, inaccurate or partially accurate.

Technology is also important as the school looks forward and Low said that they see technology as a tool for students to ask bigger questions and to search information for answers. Developing leadership skills are also at the forefront. Low said that students need to be able not to work only individually, but in small and large groups, which is a skill they'll need as they move into the workforce.

"And we want them to be practicing them here," Low said.

As the plan looks forward, it considers assumptions about the future including demographics, business/ economic climate, technology/science, legislation/ regulation, and politics and social values. Low said that all these things try to help the school visualize where it might be in five to ten year's time, as well as what the role of the district will be.

"You try to vision what you want the district and schools within district to look like and staff, parents, board members and community members are telling us they want to be a district of very high quality," Low said. "We know there are some things in place that are very excellent to good and others that are fair to good. We would like to continue to build upon what's good. And even though were a small district to reach higher and higher levels of quality."

Low said that they will take the notes they've received on the third draft and form a final report by the August board meeting. Before approving it, he said that they'll ask for any last input. Once the plan is approved, the district will begin attaching action steps to the goals that they've outlined in the plan.

"It's one thing to have goals in place, to have the vision," Low said. "The next phase is how are we going to get there?"

The six area goals outlined in the plan are increasing community and parent involvement; promoting social and life skills; creating a 21st learning environment through academics; technology; using current facilities to meet goals; and having a highly effective staff. The full plan can be read at the school's Web site: stregisschool.org.