Eanes school district Superintendent Nola Wellman etched out the bare bones of a long-term strategic plan for school board members during a meeting on Oct. 28. Wellman said district administrators are in the process of adjusting goals and plans that will help carry the local school district through the next five years.
“We have always worked in an environment of high expectations, and our schools have met those expectations,” Wellman told school board members. “But we’ve never had a philosophy that it is OK to rest on that. We’ve had a philosophy that we need to continue to strive to be better.”
Wellman told board members that success could be fleeting and should not be taken for granted in the quickly changing world of public education. She said the district was working on a strategic plan that would pull together threads of support within the district.
“Quality staff, technology, innovative teaching strategies, finances, facilities, community support – all these things are parts of a plan for continuing success,” she said.
Wellman reviewed and tweaked the district’s mission and strategies for the future.
She said the district is interested in promoting a culture of creativity and collaboration that leads to continuous improvement.
“We know that we’re in an information age; processing, evaluating and communicating that information will be an important part of what students will need to do in the future,” Wellman said.
She said the district is keyed into encouraging students to explore, identify and develop strengths and passions and wants to prepare those students for responsible citizenship in a global society. She told board members that administrators now have a framework for the 2010-2015 strategic plan, but it will take them the rest of the year to flesh out details. She plans on bringing more of that detail to board members after the holiday season.