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About the Planning Process
The Strategic Planning Design Team has begun a year-long process
of gathering, compiling and synthesizing the expressed needs and desires of our diverse
educational community in order to develop a cohesive, meaningful, and executable plan to
direct our District's future. A narrative explanation of our own particular planning
process follows below. To view a generic representation of the strategic planning
process in graphic form, click on the "Flowchart" link at the bottom of the
page. Use the "Calendar of . . ." link on the sidebar (at left) to view
dates and agendas for upcoming meetings and events as well as minutes of Strategic
Planning Design Team Meetings.
The Beginning
The planning process formally began in May of 2001, with collaboration between the SMMUSD
Board of Education and Superintendent Deasy regarding the concept and logistics of a
strategic plan for the District. The first step was to form a Design Team: a
body of volunteers from the educational community who would work with Superintendent
Deasy, a Board representative, and a planning consultant over the course of the next year.
In early September, notices and applications were sent to all schools and specific
community sites throughout SMMUSD. The Board conducted interviews, ultimately
approving a core of eighteen team members. (For more information about the team,
click on the "Design Team" link in the sidebar to the left.)
Community Assessments
The first "assignment" of the Design Team was to conduct an
extensive outreach into the District's two major educational communites of Santa Monica
and Malibu. Stakeholders in the success of our students - parents, students,
district employees, and community members - were invited to a series of "Community
Assessment Meetings" (held at various schools throughout the District) for the
purpose of learning how they view the current state of the District. A community
interview was also posted on the District website for those unable to attend
meetings. Those who were able to attend the meetings were invited to conduct
additional interviews in the community, one-on-one.
The Interview
The instrument used by participants to interview one another was developed
by the Design Team and prepared in three languages. The interview queried stakeholders as
to current district programs or functions they valued for keeping as we move forward, and
also included the opportunity to list wishes they might have for future
consideration. Following the face-to-face interviews, responses were summarized and
posted around the room and participants voted informally upon those items most critical to
them. Of the more than 350 interviews collected, approximately 80% were conducted in
person and 20% were collected via the Web.
Studying The Data
The Design Team has since studied the interviews and compiled the
individual and group data. Interviews were viewed from a variety of perspectives
(i.e., by stakeholder and demographic groups) to see where commonalities and differences
exist between respondent groups. (For a more in-depth look at
the data gathering process and a look at the results themselves, see Overview of the Assessment Process.)
Designing the Plan
In February, participants at the invitational Strategic Planning Conference
- the major event of the entire planning process - will use the results of the Assessment
as a springboard for developing 4-6 focus areas, action plans and strategies to guide the
District over the next three years. The conference will utilize many
"Futuresearch" methods. Futuresearch is a formalized planning process
which has been widely used in developing strategic plans for large entities such as school
districts, non-profit organizations and industries. (Explore
the Futuresearch site for more information on this process.) (District press release - Conference Follow up)
During the remainder of the school-year, small self-selected work groups will further
refine the efforts of the Conference participants to produce a final draft of the
Strategic Plan. In June of 2002, this document will be presented to the Board of
Education for adoption. The public is invited to join the Design Team and the Board
of Education in celebration of the culmination of the Strategic Planning Process for the
Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District. (See Calendar of Meetings and Events for all upcoming meeting
times, locations and agendas.)
To view a graphic representation of the Strategic
Planning Process, click on the first link below. If you are interested in
involvement opportunties or have questions or comments you would like addressed, click on
the second link.
[Flowchart] [Contact us at spdthelp@smmusd.org]
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