The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is crafting its next strategic plan, which will guide the district over the next five years. The district’s current strategic plan outlines the district’s mission and vision statements, as well as its guiding principles.
The current plan, which covers 2017 through 2022, places emphasis on readiness, rigor, relevance and responsiveness. It says that all students will achieve high levels of academic growth, experience a personalized learning system and be immersed in a high-quality instruction environment.
KPBSD’s current mission statement is to “empower all learners to positively shape their futures.” A draft mission statement prepared this year, which would be included in the plan currently being crafted, places emphasis on the qualities the district would like students to graduate with.
“Every KPBSD student will be a lifelong learner who will graduate with the knowledge, skills, habits, agency, and community connections needed to pursue their passions and desired post-secondary opportunities,” the draft statement says.
KPBSD’s 25-member Strategic Plan Committee includes Superintendent Clayton Holland, Assistant Superintendent Kari Dendurent, parent representatives and other KPBSD administrators.
Dendurent said during a Monday work session with the KPBSD Board of Education that the draft statement was created in part using words members of that committee felt the district should incorporate into the mission statement moving forward. Among the words submitted by committee members were community, perseverance and growth.
The plan will also be informed by data collected via surveys distributed throughout the district community in conjunction with Hanover Research, a market researcher the district has worked with in the past. According to documents prepared for the board of education’s Monday work sessions, surveys conducted include a senior and alumni survey, a personalized learning survey and a school climate and mindset survey.
Among the district’s strengths, those surveyed said, is that students feel connected and safe in their school environment, that seniors “strongly agree” the district prepares them with academic knowledge needed for post-graduation and more than three-quarters of students and parents are aware of the emphasis the district puts on personalized learning.
In contrast, those surveyed said the district has room for improvement related to students’ relationships with adults and peers, instructional depth, Career and Technical Education programming, college planning and preparation and a focus on data-driven practices,” Career and Technical Education programming, college planning and preparation and a focus on data-driven practices.
Dendurent said during her Monday presentation that Hanover has recommended including goals and performance indicators related to the development, recruitment and retaining of talent within the strategic plan, noting that survey respondents cited that area as the district’s “highest priority and lowest performance” area.
Final draft and approval of the next five-year plan is currently scheduled for June.
The board of education’s Monday meetings can be streamed on the district’s media channel at media.kpbsd.k12.ak.us.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
