NOTE: Click here for a gallery of photos from the process so far.

The Cherokee County School District has kicked off a significant update to its five-year Strategic Plan and began the process with community engagement.

The School District, with the support of the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA), is developing a new plan aligned with the community’s vision for the future and designed to be better understood and appreciated by the community and more accurately implemented and measured by CCSD staff.

“Our vision is to create a plan that’s focused enough that everyone in the community understands where we want to go and how we’re going to get there,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower said.  “Involving the community in this process is important to me and the School Board because we want everyone who makes up our School District to have a sense of ownership of this plan and our future success.”

The process began earlier this month with a GSBA-led session for the Cherokee County School Board, during which Board members shared their thoughts on CCSD’s successes and areas of improvement for the future. 

The project continued on Monday night with a meeting of the Superintendent’s Strategic Plan Community Engagement Committee.  This Committee, made up of 140 CCSD educators and support staff, parents, community and business partners, and students, participated in a GSBA-led SWOT analysis, which is an exercise that asks stakeholders to identify an organization’s internal Strengths and Weaknesses, as well as Opportunities for improvement, and external Threats to its success.

Additional community surveys, data collection and focus group meetings will continue through the spring, followed by the setting of specific measurable goals by CCSD staff.  The project culminates in August with Dr. Hightower’s presentation of his proposed new Strategic Plan to the School Board for approval.  Following the School Board’s approval, CCSD will launch an awareness campaign to share the plan’s details with the community.

Are you a CCSD employee, parent, business or community partner, or student who wants to help develop the new Strategic Plan?  Click here to share your input through an online community survey open through March 12.  Haga clic aquí para español.

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