District Site Council Meets to Customize, Implement Strategic Plan Work

District Site Council Meets to Customize, Implement Strategic Plan Work
Shawnee Mission School District

Representatives of district and school site councils met this week to review the district Strategic Plan for the Shawnee Mission School District and to plan for the future.

A central part of the Sept. 18 meeting was to hear an overview of the Strategic Plan from Superintendent Mike Fulton. He shared details about the Strategic Planning process and the community’s identified objective: To provide a personalized learning plan that supports students in being college and career ready and having the interpersonal skills important to life success.

Now that the plan is approved by the school board, school site councils play a key role in shaping the implementation of the plan across the district.

Data Overview

Attendees briefly reviewed current district and school-level data. Dan Gruman, coordinator of assessment and research, shared data related to the following:

Academic growth and performance

Discipline

Attendance rates

And Individual plans of study

The data Gruman presented at the Sept. 18 meeting can be viewed here.

The data was presented so everyone can engage in the work of making sure the learning experience is customized so that every student is prepared for life success, Fulton said. Noting that data varies from school to school, Fulton said an essential part of the work of the site councils and school communities will be  to customize school plans to ensure Strategic Plan objectives are met for each student.

“We are not judging,” Fulton said. “We are benchmarking where we are to acknowledge the work that is ahead of us.”

Real World Learning Task Force

Attendees also heard about how various task forces meeting across the district are engaged in the work of implementing the Strategic Plan. This October, community members are invited to engage in public forms specifically focused on facilities planning.

Dr. Ryan Flurry, principal of career education  campuses, also shared information about the upcoming work of the Kauffman Foundation’s Real World Learning Task Force, which will be to research and develop recommendations to each high school. Shawnee Mission is a member of the inaugural cohort of districts developing plans to equip all students with market-value assets for work and learning beyond high school including:

Internships

College Credit

Industry-Recognized credentials

Entrepreneurial Experiences 

This work connects directly to the SMSD Strategic Plan and our goal for all students to have a personalized learning plan that supports them in being both college and career ready.  

Next Steps 

Following the presentation, school site councils met to review school-level data and discuss recommendations and strategies to ensure student success as outlined in the Strategic Plan for their students and school community. The next District Site Council meeting will take place in February.

The District Site Council is a committee that is required as part of the Kansas Education Systems Accreditation (KESA) process. This group reports to the superintendent, as outlined in Board of Education Policy, BBC.