BERLIN – A new strategic plan for Worcester County Public Schools highlights the school system’s focus on academic achievement, school safety, communication and organizational effectiveness.
During a meeting of the Worcester County Board of Education this week, Superintendent Lou Taylor presented Forward View 2022, the school system’s latest strategic plan. The document, which outlines the school system’s goals, was developed during the first part of this year with input from all parts of the community.
“I believe firmly in putting together a plan that encompasses everybody,” Taylor said. “I thought it was very important it not be Mr. Taylor’s plan but the school system’s plan.”
Taylor said that because the school system’s previous strategic plan was coming to an end just as he took over last fall, developing a new one became one of his first priorities as superintendent. He quickly gathered a trio of central office employees — Dee Shorts, coordinator of instruction for K-12 Literacy and Title 1, Carrie Sterrs, coordinator of public relations and special projects, and John DiPaula, former human resources director — and tasked them with heading a strategic planning committee. That committee spent last spring developing a draft strategic plan. After finalizing it with Taylor, committee members are now sharing the final product with the entire school system.
“We are as proud of this project as Mr. Taylor is,” Shorts said.
The areas of focus outlined in the plan are academic achievement, communication and collaboration, school safety and organizational effectiveness.
Committee member Annette Wallace, principal of Pocomoke High School, said the school system would continue to strive to ensure students were academically successful. It will also pursue collaborative relationships with community partners and make sure schools remain safe learning environments.
“That’s paramount to everything we do,” Wallace said.
By expressly identifying organizational effectiveness as a goal, the strategic plan illustrates the importance of using processes and resources most effectively. Work is currently underway to align principal evaluation standards to the strategic plan and school leaders have also been determining how the new plan fits with each facility’s school improvement plan. Officials said the central office was in the process of creating departmental scorecards that tied in to the plan as well.
“This holds us accountable,” Taylor said. “This gives us the feedback to fix the things we need to fix.”
School board members praised the effort.
“It’s good for the public to see we’ve included them,” board member Sara Thompson said. “We’ve included the whole community.”
