For the past year-and-a-half, Oxford Schools has been looking at how it can change the process through which it develops a strategic plan, according to Deputy Superintendent Tim Throne.
Part of that process has included talking to multiple vendors, that specialize in Strategic Planning.
‘I’ve got it narrowed down to the person I want to contract with to come in and help us do this,? said Throne, who is hoping to have the contract finished soon, so he can present it to the school board at the Dec. 10 meeting and allow them time to review it, so they can approve it at the Dec. 17 meeting.
‘We want to start (strategic planning) activities Jan. 1,? he added.
Because Throne has yet to present the contract to the board, he did not wish to disclose the name of the person or the company at this time.
‘If there (are) other companies out there and they read (the name) I don’t want to lose their leverage, or if negotiations with this person or company (fall through) then I’m sort of in a bind,? he said.
However, he did note this person/company has helped with strategic planning in the past on the district’s existing plan.
‘The board has seen his work, the board has met him before and the district has engaged in his work before, (so) it’s not like it’s a totally new vendor altogether,? Throne said. ‘It’s more of using his expertise this time to help us create the plan from scratch, instead of helping us implement it along the way.?
Throne said they’re not just looking to bring in a speaker or a well-known educational consultant to discuss the ‘global perspective,? but instead they want this plan to be ‘more organically driven from where Oxford is at today.?
‘We’ve tried a whole bunch of things, we’ve implemented a bunch of new programs,? Throne explained. ‘A lot of this strategic plan is figuring out which of our initiatives are really working. How do we want to develop it? Are there some we want to pull back on? How do we do a better job evaluating our programs as to the kind of return we’re getting? Does it fit in with our mission of trying to create this balanced educational experience between arts, athletics and academics and all that kind of stuff??
The majority of the plan is going to be The majority of the plan is going to be more driven from obtaining information and perspective from teachers, something Throne said they need to do a better job on compared to the past.
‘Part of the contract negotiation (with the strategic planning consultant) is I need x-amount of their time and to a certain extent, I want them conducting these interviews and doing some of that because I want the teachers to feel free to voice their opinion, whether it’s totally against what we’re doing today or totally in support,? Throne said. ‘What they like, what they don’t like. As soon as you put them in a big meeting with a lot of people, a lot of them are going to shut down. If they feel like they’re in the minority, they may not want to say some negative things for fear of retribution or something.?
Input from the community will also be sought.
The new plan is going to be different than what the district has done in the past because officials are trying to ‘capture a lot more internal data and external data.? Included in that data will be survey information the district took from students and parents last year.
‘Part of this will be this company evaluating and going through all of that survey data and helping us find points where there is additional work that needs to be done, where we need to redefine things, just communicate better and all of that kind of stuff,? he said. ‘It will be more work in actually doing the collection and the analyzing of the data to then help us formulate our major goals.?
Throne said the district will hold a couple of open forums for parents and the general public to see the framework of the plan.
‘Once we start to refine it and we get it down, that’s when we’ll make an actual formal presentation to the board, administrators and to the public,? he said. ‘End of June is when we want it to (be) approved, so by July 1 the new plan is engaged and we’re ready to go.?