MADISON TOWNSHIP — A new strategic plan for the Madison Local School District will focus on academics, finances, facilities, culture and communication. Administrators presented that plan Wednesday night during a board of education meeting.
Superintendent Rob Peterson saidĀ having a strategic plan will help guide the administration and school board as it makes decisions to move forward and improve the district.
A committee of volunteers, including staff and community, had several public meetings during the summer to determine priorities and overarching goals for the plan. Staff members then continued the process by developing action items to meet those goals.
“It gives us an opportunity to focus in difference areas, such as the facilities or the academics,” school board president Tim Wigton said.Ā
The district has had two strategic plans in the past. Peterson estimated that it’s been about 12 years since the last one was updated. One of the main goals outlined in that strategic plan was the construction of Madison Middle School.
The updated strategic plan doesn’t include a new building, but does cover a wide range of responsibilities that every school district faces. The plan is broken down into five categories, each with its own set of goals, a timeline and a steering committee.
Student learning and support
These goals include increasing performance index scores for each school building by five points or maintaining expected growth as measured by each buildingās value-added score on the newĀ Ohio Department of Education Report Card. These scores are based largely on state assessment tests.
āBasically, our action steps for that would just be working with each building leadership team and implementation ā how theyāre addressing student achievement,” said Renee Neron, Madison’s director of curriculum and instruction.
Academic Success Action Plan.pdf
Another academic goal is creating an implementation guide and annual review committee for the districtās multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). MTSS is a framework commonly used in education to provide students who struggle academically or behaviorally get the extra help they need.
The final goal is for the district to implement a quality point system for high school courses by the end of the 2021-2022 school year. This system would give more weight to certain, more challenging courses when calculating a studentās grade point average. Examples of this may be adding an extra point to scores in Advanced Placement or post-secondary courses.
Communications
The communications section of the strategic plan calls for surveying staff and community members on their communications preferences, then creating a comprehensive district-wide communication plan.
Communications Action Plan.pdf
Culture and climate
This portion of the plan has three goals. The first is to continue implementing an effective Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports system. Ohio requires public schools to have a PBIS system in place to promote and recognize positive student behavior.
The district also hopes to increase community support at school-sponsored events by soliciting donations that can reduce the cost of student passes for athletic events.
Culture and Climate Action Plan.pdf
Lastly, the plan includes establishing district social media platforms to share positive achievements within the district.
Finances
The district’s financial goals revolve primarily around increasing district revenue andĀ decreasing costs while maintaining a quality education.
“Currently, we spend 72.6 percent directly on classroom instruction,” Peterson said. “Compared to other districts our size across the state of Ohio, we rank 19th in spending the funds directly in the classroom.
“We want to make sure we maintain a level of staffing that meets the needs of all students. When we’re consistently bordering on deficit spending, that can be difficult.”Ā
Peterson said the district will also need to determine the need for new operating funds and possibly put a new levy on the ballot in the future. The last time Madison passed a new levy was 1997.
District leadership also plans to continue communicating needs and concerns to state legislators, since a large chunk of public school funding is determined by Ohio’s biennial budget.
“We are very hopeful with the new Fair School Funding Plan that will generate and send additional funds our way, which will help,” he said.Ā
The plan also calls for passing a renewal levy of 6.9 mills for operating expenses in May 2022.
“That won’t generate any additional funds for us, but it’ll keep us at the level that we’re at currently,” Peterson said. “Not passing that levy would be devastating.”
FacilityĀ improvement and development
The first goal of the facilities committee is to bring all district buildings and athletic venues into compliances with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A facilities committee will partner with the building principals, operations supervisor and athletic directors to evaluate sites and see what needs to be done, then present its recommendations and budgets to the school board. The plan sets of having completely ADA compliant facilities by the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
The plan also calls for updating the district’s IT infrastructure and creating a long term facilities plan for the district.Ā
