By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

SAD 61 needs a new blueprint for its future.

“Our purpose in updating our Strategic Plan is to provide a blueprint that focuses the work of the District and guides us in achieving common goals,” Assistant Superintendent Dr. Pat Hayden said. “It will include a mission statement (what we do), a vision statement (what we aspire to be), core values, (what we believe), and priority focus areas with strategies (what we want to accomplish).”

The last time SAD 61 developed a Strategic Plan was 15 years ago. School systems usually like to amend/update its plan every five years.

So, a new blueprint is overdue.

To address changing needs and how SAD 61 should be shaped in the coming years, school officials will seek the public’s input by asking Bridgton, Casco and Naples residents to share their thoughts by taking a short survey.

The survey will be open today, Thursday, May 23 and close on Thursday, June 6.

Print copies of the survey along with a drop box will be available in each community’s town office, library and community center.

The survey may also be accessed by scanning the provided QR code, through a link on the Lake Region School District website (www.lakeregionschools.org) and the towns’ Facebook pages.

SAD 61 will also be sending a survey link via e-mail to Lake Region schools’ families and staff, as well as town office personnel, Select Board members and businesses in Bridgton, Casco and Naples.

“The survey will help us determine where we put our time and our resources and our money. That information will help us develop the Strategic Plan, which is a blueprint for SAD 61 moving forward,” Dr. Hayden said. “We want feedback from all stakeholders so that the Strategic Plan is reflective of the communities’ values and what they want for their students. This work needs to be a collaboration between school staff and the communities, while at the same time, we’re also making sure we’re following state mandates from the Department of Education.”

A SAD 61 Steering Committee for the past year has been laying the groundwork to develop a new Strategic Plan. Two key plan elements are core values and focus points. Some core values include academic achievement and growth, community engagement, curriculum and instruction along with work force readiness, school climate and culture, school safety and high-quality staffing.

On the focus side, elements include fairness, flexibility, problem-solving skills, working collaboratively and critical thinking.

Unlike municipalities which follow a mandate to update Comprehensive Plans, the school system is looking to revise and update its Strategic Plan because it is “good educational practice,” Dr. Hayden noted. “It’s a blueprint that you can keep going back to. It’s not helpful if it becomes one of those documents that just sits on the shelf. We want a living Strategic Plan.”

The SAD 61 Steering Committee has looked at surrounding school systems’ Strategic Plans to see what other districts felt were important pieces to be included in their blueprints to the future.

“We’re hoping for a high-level return of surveys. We’ll then analyze what themes emerge and what a majority of people are interested in and focused on,” Dr. Hayden said.

The findings will lead to creation of belief statements — “what we, as a district, want to do” — as well as focus groups, which will develop action steps for the next five-year period.

“We thought that doing a survey would be the best way to reach a large number of people. We know how important everyone’s time is — everyone is being pulled in so many directions, but we also know they still want to be contributing and participating in the school process,” Dr. Hayden added. “The survey gives us the opportunity to get the public’s feedback, which we need...We want to make sure that this Strategic Plan reflects our communities’ priorities.”

The survey will take about five minutes to complete. It does include boxes, which participants can expand on a comment or idea.

How folks responded will be revealed in a future presentation to the SAD 61 School Board.