CV Adopts new Strategic Plan

By Nina Culver Splash contributor

After more than a year of open houses, meetings and discussions, the Central Valley School District board of directors have approved a new five-year strategic plan to provide a roadmap for everything from computer systems to student learning.

In addition to staff and administrators, the district also sought input from students and parents. “We wanted to have representation, solid representation, from our students,” said Superintendent John Parker. “We wanted to have a voice from parents and parent groups. People are very vested in their children’s education.”

Other community groups, including local businesses and the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, were also consulted. The question posed to everyone was simple: what do students need to feel prepared for their future and to thrive academically, socially and emotionally?

“We kept it pretty broad,” he said. “Based on that, ideas flowed.”

After data and community input was gathered, a 27-person core planning team was assembled to determine the bones of the strategic plan. The team included students, parents, alumni, teachers, administrators and community members in addition to representatives from local businesses and colleges. The basics of the plan identified by the planning team was then further refined by an executive team that included principals, administrators and two school board members.

The new strategic plans identifies four key directions for the district: pursuing a culture of belonging and equitable opportunities for all, reimagining systems and structures, prioritizing district-wide support for the whole child and launching infinite possibilities. The district’s mission and vision statements were also updated.

“We really feel these are 21st century statements that say who we are,” Parker said of the vision statements.

The key to any school and any school district is to make children feel like they belong, Parker said. Research shows that if children feel like they belong, that they are welcomed, their learning will improve and they’ll succeed academically.

Another key tenant is to make sure that students in all parts of the 80-square mile district get the same educational opportunities no matter which school they attend. With that goal in mind, the district is being broken into three smaller community-oriented areas called the Western, Central and Eastern Learning Communities. Each learning community is centered around the elementary and middle schools that feed into the district’s three comprehensive high schools.

The district has launched a new CVSD Link newsletter and plans to host Community Link events in each of the three Learning Communities this fall. It’s not like we’re trying to create three smaller school districts within the school district,” Parker said. “It’s almost like creating three houses. We’re giving identity to that.”

As part of the new emphasis on building community, the district will change how it offers preschool classes for children ages 3-5. Previously, all classes have been held in the district’s Early

Learning Center on East Sprague, but preschool classes will also be offered in one elementary school in each of the three Learning Communities.

Parker said he wants to expand the work the Early Learning Center has been doing to include students with diagnoses such as autism and ADHD into the classroom.

“We are doing preventative and inclusionary work,” he said.

“When they hit kindergarten, they already have skills above and beyond other students to selfadvocate.”

Changes have also been made at the administrative level. The district no longer has a director of elementary education and a director of secondary education. Instead, there are new academic officer positions for each of the three Learning Communities.

“They are going to be leading the charge in the big picture,” Parker said.

The new strategic plan touches nearly all areas. It calls for recruitment and retention of highly qualified staff, equitable resource distribution, auditing attendance trends, increasing district level support for students and expanding educational opportunities for gifted students and those interested in a Career and Technical Education path. Some goals that seem simple on their face, such as analyzing grading practices, will actually take months if not years to study and then enact any changes, Parker said. Other goals, such as increasing career pathways for middle and high school students through CTE classes, have become more important in recent years. It’s important to work on eliminating the stigma that some have toward not getting a college education,

Parker said. Trade schools and apprenticeships offer pathways to well paying jobs without requiring a college education.

“We want to open doors,” he said.

The goal is to help determine what option is the best for each student, Parker said, whether that is college, community college, enlisting in the military or learning a trade.

Another goal of the strategic plan is to explore a more balanced school year calendar and whether or not to revise bell schedules to maximize learning. The current school year calendar crams 180 days of instruction between Labor Day and mid-June, Parker said. The district is interested in seeing if it would be beneficial to start school a few days earlier and/or end a few days later in order to add in more multi-day breaks for students and staff, he said.

“We’re not looking at adding school days, but can we redistribute them,” Parker said.

Parker said he wants to determine if the current schedule is what works best for students and teachers and if changing it would improve people’s mental health. “We know there’s some interest out there in this,” he said.

However, no changes would be made until the issue is studied thoroughly and input is received from parents and students, Parker said. In making its decision the district would also have to consider issues such as daycare and transportation, he said.

Though working through the strategic plan will take years, Parker said it will be worth the effort. “I would much rather think big over a longer term than think small,” he said.