Harmony
school plans for future
Tuesday, February 14, 206 • By
Sara Leitch • The Express-Times
HARMONY TWP. | School board members heard
Monday from a statewide group that hopes to help the
township's school define its goals for the next five
years.
New Jersey's School Boards Association
recommends school districts go through the nine-month
strategic planning process every five years, said Diane
Morris, a field service representative for the
association.
"Strategic planning is a vision," Morris
said. "What do you seek to become?"
Chief School Administrator Vicky Pede
said she invited Morris to explain the strategic planning
process, which aims to get teachers, school officials,
parents and community members involved in determining a
school's goals for the future.
"It takes a courageous board to do this,"
Morris said. "If you're not going in a direction supported
by the community, they might not support the
process."
Board member Mary-Lou Unangst, who helped
create a strategic plan for Belvidere's schools, said it had
a long-lasting impact on the district.
"The people who volunteer now to do
things for the school are the same people who were active
then," Unangst said. "It brought the community together,
made everyone more aware of the status of where we were and
what we could do going forward."
The school boards association's calendar
for strategic planning begins with an orientation meeting at
the end of May, followed by training sessions in September
and reports from school officials on what they see as the
state of the school and the community.
In October, missions and goals for the
school are developed in a two-day conference. Committees
meet over the next months to create plans for achieving
those goals, which school board members approve in the
spring.
The school board association charges
$5,000 for the full-fledged strategic planning process. A
pared-down version costs less, Morris said.
Pede said while the school board has a
subcommittee looking at the impact of new housing
developments on the school, strategic planning would examine
every aspect of the school's future.
"I asked her to come because I believe
strategic planning is a very valuable process for the school
board and the community," Pede said. "We have an ad-hoc
committee for growth. Lots of things dovetail
here."
Reporter Sara Leitch can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by
e-mail at sleitch@express-times.com.
© 2006 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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