American architect Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) once said, “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die.”
On April 2, 3, and 4, forty-four citizens of the River Falls school community convened in the basement of the United Methodist Church for 35 hours of concentrated and comprehensive planning to improve our school district. The group, about half of whom were employees and half non-employees, had a broad range of backgrounds, viewpoints, experiences, and levels of involvement with education in our community. They had the responsibility of crafting the framework for our River Falls School District’s strategic plan.
The process was facilitated by John Messelt of Cambridge Strategic Planning Services. After analyzing internal and external strengths and weaknesses, competition, and critical issues impacting the district’s future, the Strategic Planning Team built the draft strategic plan for eventual school board adoption. This is comprised of beliefs, mission, objectives, and strategies.
The three most important parts of the process were 1) developing our district’s mission statement, 2) creating district objectives, and 3) defining six strategies necessary to meet the mission statement.