Is This Really Strategic Planning? The "Visioning" Workshop to be Held at the 10/7/13 Committee of the Whole Meeting is not a Fair or Focused Process.

The Board Docs for Monday's (10/7/13) Committee of the Whole Meeting have been posted.  The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at Walker School.  The only topic for discussion is something called "Visioning and Long Range Planning." The tab for this agenda item explains:

"Ms. Barb Toney from the Illinois Association of School Boards will lead the Board of Educaiton, Administration, and representatives from the PTO, District 181 Foundation, Finance Committee, Technology Committee, SELAS Committee, Safety & Crisis Committee, HCHTA, and HESS in a visioning and long-range planning discussion. Members of the public are invited to observe and make comments before and after the workshop." (Note:  The spelling mistake found above is not ours, but that of the D181 administrators, who once again failed to spell check materials posted for the public.)

The 10/3/13 edition of The Hinsdalean described this agenda item as follows:

"Visioning workshop with round tables of staff, parents, residents and business leaders discussing with the board the past, present and future of the district." 

While we acknowledge that school boards typically participate in strategic planning, we question how effective or fair the upcoming "visioning" meeting will be.  Here are our concerns:

1.  The materials leave the mis-impression that this strategic planning meeting is the latest in a series of strategic plans started by the Schuster Administration after an 8 year lull. Slide 3 of the Board Docs' Power Point presentation (Click to open Power Point) is titled Strategic Planning History and lays out a timeline of "bubbles" of events.  The first bubble is dated February 25, 2002.  The next bubble is dated October 20, 2010.  While we acknowledge that the Schuster Administration has made radical and sweeping curriculum changes that began in October 2010, to leave the impression that the three Superintendents who served from 2002 to 2010 -- Dr. Curley, Dr. Tenbusch and Dr. Sabatino -- did NO strategic planning is disingenuous at best.  The reality is that those of us who have had children in D181 for many years recall that under past administrations, the Board of Education hired nationally recognized strategic planning facilitators, such as Doug Eadie, to lead the board in strategic planning sessions.  We hope that the current board asks for historical information on what procedurally and substantively took place in the area of Strategic Planning during those 8 years.

2.  Strategic planning is supposed to be what the Board of Education does. There are commonly accepted definitions of the term "strategic planning" and commonly accepted processes to follow. Going into any kind of long range "planning" meeting, the BOE should first give direction on the process.  Has the D181 board done this and do any of the board members really know what this process is supposed to be and how it should be structured? Moreover, what is the focus of this meeting? There doesn't appear to be any. The Hinsdalean must have been given additional information not posted on Board Docs for them to report that what will be discussed is the "past, present and future of the district."  This seems overly broad and open ended, so just how much can round table discussion groups accomplish if that is what they are tasked with?  Even if you conclude from the materials posted on Board Docs that the discussion will be more chatter about the Learning for All (formerly ALP) plan, then this should concern everyone because it lends itself to the possibility that the Administration is simply trying to get more "buy in" for the Learning for All Plan from the workshop participants.  If that is the case, then there is really nothing "strategic" that requires public input.  So what exactly is the goal of these round table discussions?  Is it to set long term strategic goals for the district, and if so, in what specific areas?  Class Size, facilities maintenance, all day kindergarten, financial health of the district, foreign language expansion?  Or is the goal simply to rubber stamp the ALP/Learning for All Plans?  It seems the first thing the BOE and Administration need to do is have a discussion amongst themselves about what they are "strategically" planning for and then seek input from participants -- including all parents, teachers and taxpayers in the community. 

3.  How were the individuals -- PTO representatives, 181 Foundation members, other "committee members," teachers and support staff  -- selected to participate in this round table discussion? If the PTO representatives are the "parents" referred to in The Hinsdalean, did the PTO representatives meet with their PTO membership in advance of Monday's meeting to discuss what issues their memberships want them to bring to the table for discussion?  If not, then the PTO members attending the strategic planning meeting can only represent their own individual opinions and ideas, and not those of their broader school populations.  Similarly, whose interests are the other members representing?  Those of their "group" or their own individual views? Again, unless they met with their groups prior to Monday's meeting to determine the "group's" ideas/opinions, they can only express their individual opinions.  And if any of the "parents" participating in the round table discussion are only representing their own individual views, then why didn't the administration/BOE conduct a fair and random selection process open to everyone?