Western Wayne School Corp. is asking parents and community members to respond to six open-ended questions. Answers will help develop a five-year strategic plan for the district. Starting Thursday, the online survey will be at wwayne.k12.in.us or www.facebook.com/WesternWayneSchools. Paper copies will be available at Western Wayne Elementary and Lincoln Middle-Senior High schools and the corporation office at 519 Queen St., Pershing. The survey will close on Aug. 10, the first day of the new school year.
■ List at least 2 strengths of Western Wayne Schools.
■ List at least 2 areas where Western Wayne Schools can improve.
■ How can Western Wayne Schools improve its communication with parents?
■ How can Western Wayne Schools improve its communication with its non-parent community?
■ What can Western Wayne Schools do to encourage parents who live in the district to keep their children in or return them to the district schools?
■ What can Western Wayne Schools do to attract/encourage parents from other districts to send their children to Western Wayne Schools?
■ List any other suggestions/concerns you would like to present to the Strategic Planning Committee as it establishes goals and strategies for the next 3 to 5 years.
Additional comments or thoughts may be directed to Superintendent Andy Stover, astover@wwayne.k12.in.us.
Community survey will help district set priorities
A committee of parents, community members and educators will use a community survey to help Western Wayne School Corp. develop a new five-year strategic plan.
“This district strategic plan is an essential component of school accountability and continuous improvement which provides a means for us to clearly identify and communicate how the school is working to improve outcomes for our students,” Superintendent Andy Stover said. “My goal for Western Wayne is to try to perfect our district.”
A 25-member strategic planning committee will meet biweekly from Sept. 7 to Dec. 14 to develop the plan. The school corporation hired Chad Lieberman as an implementation specialist to help keep the planning process moving forward. Working out of the administration office, Lieberman will help Western Wayne Schools stay focused on strategic goals by obtaining funding through grants and other sources.
Stover, who is completing his first year as superintendent, said Lieberman’s position is being paid for as part of a $2.45 million grant he obtained. In Stover’s previous job as an assistant superintendent at Randolph Eastern School Corp., he had been responsible for finding grant opportunities and then making sure the schools complied with terms of the funding and doing the necessary reports. Lieberman will have similar responsibilities here.
The strategic planning committee includes six parents, six teachers, six community members, five administrators and two school board members. Stover said the committee will divide into subcommittees that will focus on five areas: student learning and support, curriculum/extracurricular, instruction/evaluation, finance/facilities and parent/community relations.
The school district is asking community members to help guide the committee by responding to a six-question survey that will be available from July 21-Aug. 10. The questions are published separately with this article. The survey will be available online and at school offices.
When the committee’s work is completed, the strategic plan will be published, probably in January 2023, Stover said.
Western Wayne implemented its previous strategic plan in 2017. Stover said plans should be updated about every five years.
“The previous plan was pretty impressive in terms of goals. I think we did a pretty good job of meeting the goals and mission set out in it,” Stover said. “But over the course of five years, things change, and we want to be sure the schools are in line with what the community expects. We want to be more laser-focused on driving the needle in the right direction.”