School leaders outline goals in strategic plan

A school’s vision and mission will inevitably affect the success of the education of the children who go there, and the Grand Coulee Dam School District is working on updating their strategic plan.

The current strategic plan originates from 2017 and was last updated in 2020.

At the GCDSD’s Sept. 12 board meeting, it was looked at piece by piece, and board directors suggested changes that could be made to it. 

 The plan states that the district’s mission is to “empower all students to become successful members of our diverse society,” and that the district’s vision is to provide “an environment of excellence where students are inspired to learn, imagine, discover and grow.” 

 The plan includes a list of beliefs: 

Education is the equally shared obligation of our schools, students, families and our communities; education is a life-long process.

Education must take place in a safe and caring environment that values high expectations, honesty, good citizenship, trust, positive relationships and respect;

Personal accountability, character development, and integrity are foundational to our educational system; schools and families work in partnership to hold students accountable.

Extra-curricular and enrichment opportunities enhance student learning and engagement.

 The plan also has three goals, each with corresponding objectives to support those goals.

The first goal is to “provide educational programs and enrichment supporting each student in reaching his/her potential,” with the objectives supporting that goal being to provide “diverse electives, Career Technical Education, and arts,” to “build community partnerships- internships/apprenticeship/mentorship programs,” and “extended day enrichment.”

Goal two is to “continuously improve the safety, security, and learning environment for students and staff.” Its supporting objectives are “continued emphasis on Positive Behavior Interventions (PBIS),” “continued emphasis on family engagement/partnerships,” “consistent accountability K-12,” and to “pursue additional facility funding.”

The group spent some time talking about the need to include something in goal two about “restorative justice,” or to say that there are consequences to negative behavior, but also “restoration following the consequences,” as Director Rich Black put it.

Director Shannon Nicholson noted the board has talked a lot about “consistent discipline” and said “accountability goes both ways,” for students and staff. She said “safety and security also means there’s consistency in its application.”

Superintendent Paul Turner spoke to the complexity of trying to achieve that consistency in terms of discipline.

“How do we give students the opportunity to restore their well being in the school and get back in?” he said. “That’s probably been the biggest piece, trying to figure out how it works. When you look at it, it maybe causes more inconsistency because you’re talking about individual kids and what’s their need versus a universal tit-for-tat thing? The consistency piece definitely needs to be there, but how do we work through that to make it consistent but also get back to good graces.” 

 Black then reemphasized his point of consequences and restoration, saying that “restorative justice,” means that the restoration is important, as well as the justice.

Goal three of the plan is to “continuously promote student’s engagement in their own learning,” with the two objectives being to “inspire and monitor student accountability in their own learning,” and to “focus on customized/personalized instruction (differentiation).”

Turner elaborated on goal three and its objectives, saying that “students need to take more ownership,” in their education.

“You can ask a student how they’re doing on test scores and they know,” Turner said. “They know where they’re at and where they want to go. We could do more as a district to put the onus back on the students to understand where they’re at with their learning. It’s not bad or good; it’s where they’re at. And get them to understand, if they want to enhance things and move forward, they can, and can take some ownership in that.”

The group also discussed being more involved with engaging students in their plans past high school, and including that somewhere in the strategic plan.

“I feel we can enhance that more,” Turner said.

Turner also elaborated on the word “differentiation,” saying that as each student learns differently, a teacher often has to differentiate in how they teach a lesson so that all the kids understand what is being taught, even if they get there in a different way.

The group also said they would like the strategic plan, the mission and vision, to be featured more prominently on the district website at http://www.gcdsd.org. 

 Turner said that they should keep the plan, the goals, and objectives in mind. He would like to bring in a facilitator to update the plan more thoroughly sometime in the spring of 2023.