New 2-Year DOR Strategic Plan Posted

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

New 2-Year DOR Strategic Plan Posted

via Commonwealth Conversations: Revenue by Edward Peters on 2/13/13

DOR has posted its 2013-2015 Strategic Plan.  This plan outlines a comprehensive set of goals and actions which will serve as a roadmap to success for the agency.

The Strategic Plan describes how DOR will support the Executive Office of Administration and Finance's (A&F) Better Performance goal by taking a proactive approach to improve performance, effectiveness and efficiency across the agency, developing and actively measuring standards of quality for core processes, and actively working to improve the skills, processes and technologies to better support the core functions of the agency. The plan also describes how DOR supports A&F's Better Government goal by creating a customer-focused culture and processes that will support communication, collaboration and co-design with a broad range of stakeholders.

The plan is an important part of DOR's operational foundation and provides a blueprint by which its divisions can measure and report on their success.

Please take a look at our plan -- we trust that you will find it to be comprehensive, informative and useful.

Note: if you require an accessible version of the plan, please see the DOR homepage. 

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In addition to the links provided above, you can view the plan here

School Committee - say it isn't so!

The School Committee reviewed the District Improvement Plan at their last meeting on August 10. As one of the contributors to the Steering Committee that developed the Strategic Plan, it was good to see the mission, vision, and values fleshed out with detailed action steps and follow up status points.

There is one significant omission. It was also noticed by one of the eagle eye readers here as well so I wasn't the only one to catch it.

The District Improvement Plan: The last goal statement was built on the core value that the community provides resources for learning. Resources in this case is not just funding and the Strategic Value was worded carefully:

We partner with all members of the community to exchange ideas, solve problems and build a comprehensive educational experience.

From this value, the goal statement is worded as:

GOAL STATEMENT: The community will collaborate to provide the financial resources to support the educational program.

This gets to the heart of the matter. For whatever reason (economic times, lack of trust, or just 'no more', etc.) the Franklin voters have spoken to deny the schools the funding the School Committee/Administration claims is required for the education of our children. One would expect that this issue, how to better engage the community, would receive a high priority and fortunately it does with the Value and Goal Statement as shown.

For this goal statement, the plan lists two learning objectives:

• Administrators will collaborate with School Committee to develop and implement a budget
• The FPS Administration will collaborate with town and community to address FHS facility needs

What is the omission?
Where are the parents? Where is the Parent Communication Council (PCC)?

Don't you think that the parents should be involved in the process? Shouldn't the parents (especially in their role as voters) be involved in the planning and communications around the educational priorities?

Shouldn't there be an objective to reach out to the parents (and other groups in the community) to improve the information and awareness of the school budget and priorities?

Is it just me or is the School Committee/Administration missing the boat?

Why is this an issue?
The School Committee agenda for Tuesday, August 24 has an action item:

• I recommend acceptance of the District Improvement Plan as presented at the last meeting.

The operative wording is "as presented" and not "as modified based upon feedback from the presentation and discussion". And if the action item was just written incorrectly but the document had actually changed, that could be considered a typo or oversight. But the document as distributed with the School Committee packet did not change.

Say it isn't so!


The action item and District Improvement Plan can be found here:

SchCom_20010824_ActionB

The 'final' Strategic Plan
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/live-reporting-strategic-plan.html

Strategic Plan Steering Committee
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/01/live-reporting-steering-committee-for.html

Strategic Plan presentation to Town Council
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/04/slidecast-strategic-plan-overview-audio.html


Franklin, MA

Franklin (MA) Public Schools: District Improvement Plan

The following document is scheduled for discussion at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, August 10, 2010.

The document outlines the District Improvement Plan (fondly referred to as the 'DIP'). The District Improvement Plan takes the Strategic Plan and sets out actions to bring the district to a level of achievement for each of their strategic objectives.

The format of the document should be easy to follow. Each page lays out one of the Core Values, with columns to show the strategies, resources, responsibilities, timelines, etc. to take action on.


Franklin (MA) Public Schools: District Improvement Plan_4SC_2010-12

How does this look to you?

What feedback would you have for the Administration, School Committee and whomever else participates on Tuesday evening?

"needs in the context of a strategic plan"

The 495/MetroWest Development Compact is aimed at ranking infrastructure improvements for the region as a whole, rather than tackling projects piecemeal.

Greg Bialecki, the state secretary of housing and economic development, and Jeff Mullan, secretary of transportation, announced the compact at the 495/MetroWest Partnership's annual conference.

Bialecki said the compact will help create a common "strategic action plan" for all of the agencies involved to get behind, rather than "creating a laundry list of changes to infrastructure that need to be made."

Franklin would be one of the 36 communities covered by this compact.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here:
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x2071995398/Cooperation-sought-prioritizing-MetroWest-infrastructure-goals


Franklin, MA

PHENOM

While on the education bandwagon, the conversation on the Facebook page revealed a group I wasn't aware of: PHENOM.

PHENOM is the leading organization advocating for affordable, well-funded public higher education in Massachusetts.  PHENOM unites students, faculty, alumni, staff, parents and community organizations to do grassroots organizing, policy analysis, and advocacy.

They ask for folks to sign a pledge:

Massachusetts must provide top-quality public higher education and must make it affordable for all. To these ends, the Commonwealth must ensure that per capita spending on public higher education is no less than the national average, and that student costs are no higher than the national average. Significant and measurable progress toward these benchmarks must be achieved by FY 2012.

These are admirable and worthy goals. Higher education (i.e. college and post graduate) can not succeed unless there is a great foundation built by the primary levels of education (elementary, middle school and high school). And with the way the economy and world has developed, education does not stop when you get your degree. It is equally important to maintain a life long learning approach.

So you can read more about PHENOM on their website here:
http://www.phenomonline.org/

I'll bring some other of their writings, events, etc here as makes sense over time.

In the meantime, I'll stay focused on the local level where our individual tax dollars make the most sense, in that we have the most direct control over the results. As the saying goes, "All politics is local". I'll expand upon that and say "all education starts local." It starts at home and is fostered by the local community with a quality primary education.

If we want Franklin to continue to be a worthy place to live, then we need to be mindful of the core values that the School District developed:

Student Achievement

All students are entitled to academic excellence, appropriate facilities and quality materials and instruction.

Social / Civic Expectations

Students will become engaged, responsible citizens who respect the dignity and diversity of all individuals and cultures.

School Climate

Through our words and our actions, we create a culture of civility, thoughtfulness, appreciation and approachability.

School / Community Relationships

An active commitment among family, community and schools is vital to student learning.

Community Resources for Learning

We partner with all members of the community to exchange ideas, solve problems and build a comprehensive educational experience.

The School Committee agenda and individual meetings open with a reading of the Mission and Vision statements from the Strategic Plan. The core values are just as important to repeat.



Note: I was a member of the community wide group that updated the Strategic Plan.

Live reporting - District Improvement Plan

c. District Improvement Plan

• Maureen Sabolinski
• Sally Winslow
• Michele Kingsland-Smith

Now that the Strategic Plan was approved at the Aug 11th meeting, this is the next level of detail, the District Improvement Plan (DIP). referred lovingly too as the DIP Team.

Left to Right in the photo are Maureen Sabolinski, Michele Kingsland-Smith and Sally Winslow.



The current plan as reviewed during the meeting is attached:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

The plan this year was developed with the Strategic Plan in mind. Next year, there will be a formal team effort reflecting input from across the district to develop the update for this plan.

The Annual Yearly Performance (AYP) is increasing.

Student learning objectives are outlined to monitor the achievement.

Reading specialists worked to identify data points for students at specific levels across the district.

Looking at a Colorado growth model that will provide some data on the cohort growth rather than just data points from the test scores.

Based upon a look at the predictive data piloted with the State, the data helped to drive some staffing decisions.

Core values (video)

Spend less than ten minutes to view this video by Amanda Baggs.

My viewpoint in the video is that of an autistic person. But the message is far broader than autistic people. It is about what kinds of communication and language and people we consider real and which ones we do not. It applies to people with severe cognitive or physical disabilities, autistic people, signing deaf people, the kid in school who finds she is not taken seriously as a student because she does not know a lot of English, and even the cat who gets treated like a living stuffed animal and not a creature with her own thoughts to communicate. It applies to anybody who gets written off because their communication is too unusual.

For more on Amanda Baggs check out this wikipedia entry

The core values of the Franklin Public Schools were just revised to be expressed as follows:

Student Achievement
All students are entitled to academic excellence, appropriate facilities and quality materials and instruction.

Social / Civic Expectations
Students will become engaged, responsible citizens who respect the dignity and diversity of all individuals and cultures.

School Climate
Through our words and our actions, we create a culture of civility, thoughtfulness, appreciation and approachability.

School / Community Relationships
An active commitment among family, community and schools is vital to student learning.

Community Resources for Learning
We partner with all members of the community to exchange ideas, solve problems and build a comprehensive educational experience.

Live reporting - Strategic Plan

2. Guests/Presentations

a. Strategic Plan Core Values / Mission

Miriam Goodman
Judi Bassignani

The final mission statement, core values and vision can be viewed in this file below:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

The overview of the Strategic Planning Process can be found here

Q - Will the individual school missions be changed to reflect this?
A - Yes, there will be some allowance for personalization as necessary but they will be derived from the overall mission, values, etc.

Q - It would be a good idea to add it to the handbooks, manuals
A - Yes, it makes sense, we did not want to presume your intent but we can add that. It will also be added to the web site once it accepted.

Live reporting: New logo awards

c. Strategic Planning Logo Awards

Ella Reed
Ben Fretz
Cam Goldsmith
Brett vanVort
Patrick McClellan Hurd
Jillian McGrath
Madison Wendell
Lyndsey Donahoe
Pooja Agaraal
Michelle Reinertson
Samantha Fitzpatrick
Collin Berg
Ellie Mancin
Erin Lee
Kasey Lynch
Breanna Metras
Caleigh Smith
Emma Campbell
Joe Nevells
Ashley Monterotti
Kevin MacAllister
Nichole Higgins
David Joany
Anna Humphreys
Madison Hinckley
Andrew DeSignore
Jill Downing
Kristen Dumas – final selection

From 250 initial entries, whittled to thirty for the high school students to work with and create 5 logos

and the final logo is shown above



Updated - 6/10/09: The listing of names was updated with the help of Rosanne (Gosch) Walsh

Strategic Planning Survey Closes 5/12/09

The Strategic Planning survey announced previously is available for your input. The survey closes out on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.

Please take a few minutes to provide your input online here

What is the survey about? This slide cast will explain:

Strategic Planning Process Overview (audio) 4/15/09

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.

Strategic Planning Survey Available

Strategic Planning survey announced previously is now available.

Please take a few minutes to provide your input online here

What is the survey about? This slide cast will explain:

Strategic Planning Process Overview (audio) 4/15/09

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.

Slidecast: Strategic Plan Overview (audio)

The Strategic Planning Overview is now available as a slide cast. The slide show has been synchronized with audio to create a complete listening and viewing experience.

This was the presentation to the Town Council on Wednesday, April 15th.

Strategic Planning Process Overview (audio) 4/15/09

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.

The slidecast without audio is available here

If you have any questions, you can contact me via email (see link on right column) or via a comment.

Updated the survey is available here

Slidecast: Strategic Plan Overview (audio)

The Strategic Planning Overview is now available as a slide cast. The slide show has been synchronized with audio to create a complete listening and viewing experience.

This was the presentation to the Town Council on Wednesday, April 15th.

Strategic Planning Process Overview (audio) 4/15/09

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.

The slidecast without audio is available here

If you have any questions, you can contact me via email (see link on right column) or via a comment.

Updated: The survey is available here

Live reporting: Franklin Schools Strategic Planning Update

The Strategic Planning Steering Committee presentation to the Town Council meeting:

Strategic Planning Process Overview

View more presentations from Steve Sherlock.

Updated: The survey is available here

Live reporting - Strategic Planning update

• Maureen & Miriam – Strategic Planning Update

Maureen thanks the School Committee for choosing the committee members, they have really worked well and are doing great things. It has been the best committee she has worked on.

200 draft logos were initially created by students within the district. That total was whittled down to a couple of dozen that the high school students have then taken to create a digital version of the art. There are now 5-6 logos for the committee to select from.

Live reporting - Steering Committee for Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan Update

• Maureen Sabolinski
• Strategic Planning Team Member(s)

The slides can be viewed here

The PR Statement as read by April Crehan:

The Franklin (MA) Public Schools’ Strategic Plan allows the district to respond to emerging trends, events, challenges, and opportunities within the framework of the district's core values, vision, and mission. The School Committee has started the process to review and update the Plan adopted by the district in 2004. In conjunction with the Superintendent, the School Committee has appointed a Strategic Plan Steering Committee to manage this process. The Steering Committee will solicit input from all interested parties in the community with regard to the core values, vision, and mission of the Franklin Public Schools.

Strategic planning in education is a complex process. The Steering Committee recognizes that there are many parties interested in the education of the children of Franklin. Because the core values, vision, and mission articulated in the Strategic Plan will guide decisions regarding our children’s education for the next five years, it is vital that the interests of the community are represented. Opportunities for periodic review and feedback to and from the community will be included in the development and implementation of this Strategic Plan.

The Steering Committee:

Co-Chair:

• Judi Bassignani - Principal, Parmenter Elementary
• Miriam Goodman -Director, Franklin Public Schools Finance

Members:

• Colleen Ahern - Teacher, Sullivan Middle School
• April Crehan - Student, Franklin High School
• Renee Danho - Community, Dean College
• Ted McIntire - Parent
• Susan Rohrbach - School Committee
• Steve Sherlock - Community
• Peg Sweeney - Parent
• Rosanne Walsh - Teacher, Remington Middle School

Administration Liaisons

• Wayne Ogden - Current Superintendent of Schools
• Maureen Sabolinski - Incoming Superintendent of Schools