A five-year strategic plan is great but creating a roadmap that far into the future can be tricky. Thats why Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School Districtadheres to an 18-month plan with measurable milestones the community can celebrate along the way.
Not long after he was hired in June2022, Superintendent filled positions for Director of Student Services and Director of Curriculum. It was then that he first considered shorteninghis strategic plan to 18 months.
I had two directors with a fresh set of eyes who had not been in the district who could be objective,”says Meyrick.
Meyrick says he steers away from the traditional five-year program because we dont know where were going to be. Instead, he develops six-month blocks to better assess progress.
First six months: processes, procedures
Meyrick and his team had been responding reactively to various internal processes, procedures, and plans. By theendof 2023, they recognized the necessity of systematically documenting their approaches. Consequently, they developed a comprehensive 18-month planand implemented it byJanuary 2024.
We need to have a game plan in place to carry out these processes and have success at the end of the road, he says.
Second six months: plans, responsible parties
Meyrick says the summer months were spent expanding on those proceduresfor example, identifying the districts multi-tiered systems of support for students in need.
These plans were then communicated during board meetings and became a public goal in the community.
“Our vision is to promise every Wolverine a future,” he says. “Without question, this is our non-negotiable in the Woodstorn-Pilesgrove Regional School District.”
Final six months: celebrations, persistent practices
Now, the district is in the middle of the final six months of its strategic plan, solidifying its procedures into persistent practices so that theyre a part of who we are rather than just another initiative, says Meyrick.
It [the strategic plan] allows us to have checkpoints, and once we accomplish those, were able to celebrate with our staff and their efforts, he says.
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Setting priorities
If youve got a five-year window to write out your goals, its easy to map your priorities. But, Meyrick says, he avoids calling his plans initiatives. Instead, he zeroes in on the districts persistent practices.
When I hear the word initiative, it means were going to do it for one year, assign the professional development and forget about it the next year, he says. Persistent practice means this is who Woodstown-Pilesgrove is and who we are on a consistent basis.
For this, Meyrick refers to the conversations and surveys he conducted after he arrived in 2022. He spoke with any willing employee, from custodians to principals, about what he needed to prioritize.
It wasnt about who spoke the loudest, but being able to listen to everyone and triangulate that data to set our focus and move forward, he explains.
Above all, Meyrick credits much of the district’s success of its strategic plan to the unwavering commitment of his staff.
Celebrating wins along the way
Meyrick believes that setting manageable goals, like his 18-month plan, is beneficial to the morale of a school district. It allows for clearer missions and more frequent celebrations when theyve been accomplished.
It gives us an opportunity to look at the focus, identify key elements of successor the oppositeand how we turn it into a persistent practice, he explains.
Meyrick strives to ensure folks are included in the process and can contribute their unique strengths. The districts successes should then be celebrated with those individuals.
I can go to our ELA team at the middle school when they outperform our states expectation as it relates to our New Jersey student learning assessment,” he concludes. We celebrate in front of them, in front of the whole community and staff. It becomes a celebration, and we celebrate any time weve completed a plan.
