1. Moving Forward Together Strategic planning process update
Sonoma Valley Unified School District
Socorro Shiels, Superintendent
SVUSD

2. The How What matters right now
culture
Collaboration
Communication
Coherence
creativity
The How What matters right now
SVUSD

3. The process itself validates
We are a listening organization and everyone’s voice matters
We are inclusive and collaborative and make decisions together
We are transparent and imperfect
We learn together and publicly
We are committed to every student’s success as an organization and a community
SVUSD

4. What is a strategic plan?
A strategic plan is an in-depth conversation with stakeholders about what matters to our school district as we all commit to student success that allows us to form a strong collective team committed to our students.
We begin with questions that help us find the similarities in what matters to us all- what is our purpose as a school district.
From there we agree on the goals that we set for ourselves to achieve that common purpose.
Finally, we build consensus about the strategies that get us to those goals.
We hold ourselves accountable and accept responsibility for those goals and strategies. As individuals, a community and an organization we make collective decisions to best serve those identified steps for students and their success.
SVUSD

5. Why a strategic process like this right now?
Build our inclusive community
Demonstrate that listening and responding to local expertise matters
Ground ourselves in agreements that give us a common focus
Grow our roots and unify our work
SVUSD

6. So Far.. Question development and initial collection of data
Focus group to help identify questions
25 community members participated- staff, parents, community at large
40 invited
Most important questions to ask/topics to cover
November 2 District Wide PD -3 small group discussion
Answered the questions
Gave feedback on the questions and the process
November 29 shared with new Student Voice group
Gave feedback on the turnkey presentation
SVUSD

7. Question Development Focus Group November 2 Community wide
How can we help support the social-emotional needs of our students (14)
How can we help support the social and emotional needs of our students?
How can we help support the social and emotional needs of our students? What do our students need to be ready and willing to learn?
How can our students get access to counselling (5)
What can we do to get more family involvement in kids education (9)
What can we do to get more family involvement in students’ education?
What can we do to get more families involved in every students’ education? What should we do to make sure every student and family is engaged in the educational journey?
How do we increase student and parent engagement? (7)
How can we create a more inclusive (socio-economic, demographic, region) district? (8)
How do we create a more inclusive (socio-economic, demographic, region) district?
What steps can the school district take to help make all students and families feel included in the school system no matter what school or neighborhood they come from?
How do we work as a community to be more unified? (3)
How can equity guide our decisions moving forward (10)
How can equity guide our decisions moving forward?
How can equity guide our decisions moving forward? How can the decisions made by the district benefit all students if we give students what they need when they need it?
What are our shared values around the work we do? (6)
What are our shared values around the work we do?
What is important to you about our students’ education? What matters most about their experiences in school?
How would you define academic success for students in the district? What should our graduates be ready to do when they graduate?
Question Development
SVUSD

8. Questions Narrowed Down and Lifted Up
Remove language that sounds too educationese… allowing everyone into this important conversation
Collecting information on how to hold the “listening circles” the actual meetings where the community comes and shares their voice and we capture their thoughts…
Where?
When?
SVUSD

9. Next Steps- Listening Plan the 4 community meetings
Times, locations- January
Proposed locations- Community Center, La Luz, Boys and Girls Club, High School
Translation, child care, food
Turnkey tools for others to host themselves-in and out of district
“baked-in” for existing meetings - parents, students, staff, community
Share with schools and with community partners
Survey Monkey online survey and running
translated
SVUSD

10. Next Steps - Learning
Sonoma State University masters’ students to assist with the themes and commonalities
This comes back to the board in a study session to frame goals and values
SVUSD

11. Nested and contextualized….all interdependent
Day to day work
School site plans
Local Control Accountability Plan
Strat Plan
There is a logical, visual through line of work
Bottom up and “top down” coherence and alignment
SVUSD

12. Reminders
This is a messy process – everyone’s voice is a lot of voices.
This is a starting point.
The process is part of the work. The agreements will guide us and the working together will define who we are together.
As we gather voices and find trends and themes, some things will fade while others jump forward. This is part of the process and will assist us in focusing and prioritizing.
Every part of a child and their experience is important and we don’t stop what we are doing now... if we want different results we need to be willing to do things differently
We have dedicated, professional staff and a committed community- we are starting from a place of assets and strengths
SVUSD

13. Change Management Strategic Execution Agreements Understanding
Continuous Improvement
Metrics Collection
Strategy Refinement
Change
Management
Action Plan
Priorities
Year long steps
3-5 Year goals
Strategic
Execution
Drafts
Feedback
Finalize
Mission, Vision, Values
Measuring Success
Agreements
Synthesis
Trends
Presentations
Understanding
Questions
Training
Locations
Data Gathering
Listening
Process
Listening- Focus group
Analysis
Consensus
Strategic Actions
Planning
Sonoma Valley Unified School District

14. Thoughts, comments, questions
SVUSD