Messages to the Community

Review & Revise

Sustainable improvement requires reflection, evaluation, and adjustments

During the school year of 2021-2022 the Chewelah School District engaged 29 community and employee stakeholders in a strategic plan development. The results of the committee's work can be viewed on the District’s website. The plan was completed approximately 15 months ago. The time has come for us to review this plan.

The Chewelah School District strategic plan provides direction and focus. In general, strategic plans do not change much because plans of this nature are usually large in scope. The plan also reflects the main purposes of an organization, which, in the case of education, should never change. I can’t imagine a school deciding that student learning is no longer the main purpose.  Nevertheless, within education a plan can provide direction to meet the specific or personal needs of a community. Not all communities have the same needs or culture, nor do they operate under the same conditions or values. This is why strategic plans are essential for organizations to achieve their purposes.

During the years of implementing a strategic plan, however, different conditions can shift. Because conditions or the environments in which we live can change, it's important that plans are reviewed to “keep the main thing the main thing.” (Covey) Some examples specific to the Chewelah School District are that our economy has drastically changed and the social challenges of our students have changed at a faster pace than normal.  Furthermore, the District is in the last year of using the extra funding provided by the federal government when the government imposed the shutdown of our schools. This funding was called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding or ESSER funds. After this school year the District will no longer have these extra funds. These funds have provided special services and supports that were deficient in our District before the shutdown.

In addition, the Chewelah School District received findings from the CMSi Audit conducted in our District last May.  This audit gave a thorough and careful review of the District’s purpose, initiatives, leadership and best practices in the classroom. It is important that we review these findings from the audit and see where we can apply the recommendations to improve the performance of the District. The strategic plan review will allow us to look at the audit findings and confirm what we are doing right and offer course corrections in areas we need improvement.

The Chewelah School District will review the strategic plan this year. This process will help us to apply the CMSi audit findings, improve policy, revisit our goals, and review resources. One of the many steps in reviewing our strategic plan will be looking at programs and services. We’ll need to evaluate them as well as prioritize them. It is simple to say that they are all important, however the District does not have endless resources. This means we need to prioritize. We would like to hear from you, the Chewelah community, and include your views when we prioritize.

It is not possible to bring everyone together as a community to help us prioritize. Nevertheless, we can hear from everyone if we provide a way to get your feedback. Please take a minute and rank the nine (9) items in order of priority by using this link or QR code. Thank you, Chewelah! https://forms.office.com/r/W2eLAtZuEj

Leadership in the Chewelah School District 

Developing a culture of meaningful leadership 

The Board of Directors for the Chewelah School District sets goals each year. Due to the fact these goals are big in scope, it may take three to five years to achieve them. Big goals do not change much because of the time it takes to achieve them. Nevertheless, updating goals and reviewing goals on a regular basis requires consistent leadership because there are many distractions that make it hard to stay on a course long enough to achieve "big" goals. This is why change can take a long time with pre-established organizations. It is intentional focused leadership, however, that maintains the steady course to obtain success. Once an organization has meaningful goals and those goals are aligned with their purpose and vision, leadership becomes essential for achievement to take root, grow, and produce the fruit or outcomes desired. 

The Chewelah Board of Directors has established goals for the coming years. The Board of Directors is seeking feedback about their leadership. Please take five minutes, scan the QR code or copy the link provided and complete the survey. Thank you.  https://forms.office.com/r/n5qYqBt9mb