Strategic Plan
This is an exciting time to be in the business of thinking, teaching and learning. Many of you may have seen the popular YouTube video series, "Did You Know...," created by self-described zealot for 21st Century learning, Howie DiBlasi. One of the video's most profound statements concludes, "We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented, in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet."
Clearly, this is a time that requires responsive, innovative solutions to meet the challenges facing public schools. Recognizing the immediacy of these new demands, Intermediate District 287 set out to create a new strategic plan (PDF) that would direct our energies to meet member districts' emerging needs.
To bring about long-term, significant change for our entire school district required a serious and deliberate conversation. Intermediate District 287 began that conversation in the fall of 2007 with a simple, but bold question, "Should we continue to exist?" The thought was both arresting and liberating.
Strategic planning, by its very nature, demands a different approach that allows us to break out of "business as usual" thinking. We envisioned wholly different ways of meeting needs and driving results.
Our planning has allowed us to:
- Identify our core values
- Declare our core purpose, and
- Design the means to achieve that purpose
To put our new framework into practice will take time. We expect to implement the plan over the next five years. Our work will be guided by well-researched action plans and supported by both district and board leadership.
Our new strategic plan creates the conditions for us to go beyond incremental improvement, to true transformation. As Superintendent, I would like to thank the more than 60 individuals who worked so hard on this plan from November 2007 through its adoption by the School Board in October 2008. Your participation in the process has given us an internal understanding from which we can build a broader awareness. Your deliberate and thoughtful efforts will help steer our actions and ensure our success.
Superintendent Sandy Lewandowski
