By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

As SAD 61 develops a new strategic plan, officials asked the public what should be the school system’s focus over the next five years, as well as thoughts regarding core values and expectations.

Technology Director Josh Sturk outlined the results of a survey — conducted both online as well as paper copies last spring — at the SAD 61 School Board’s December workshop.

“One of the most important pieces of information here is how many people actually filled out the survey,” he said. “We had 971 total responses across multiple stakeholder groups.”

Twenty-five paper surveys were returned. Copies were left at libraries, community centers and town offices.

“One thing that you need to keep in mind is that you could represent multiple stakeholder groups as someone filling out the survey. So, if you were a parent, you could also be a teacher in the district, but you’re most certainly a community member, as well,” explained Sturk, pointing out that while there were 971 people who filled out a survey, the report has 1,349 responses. “So, you’ll see that this does show a pretty decent representation of the people who would be most interested in our strategic plan in the district.”

Most responders were parents (394) followed by students (328), community members (195), staff (158) and teachers (146). Others included business leaders (41), SAD 61 administrators (36), town officials (23) and other (28).

The breakdown regarding the school where responders’ children attend was as follows:

Lake Region M.S., 163

Lake Region H.S., 162

Stevens Brook, 83

Songo Locks, 82

Crooked River, 65

Lake Region V.C., 27

Total: 582

Where do survey responders reside?

Bridgton 150

Naples 136

Casco 93

Sebago 19

When asked, “What do you believe SAD 61 should focus on over the next five years?” the top responses were:

• Student success and learning, 489 felt this area was “most important.” On a scale of 1 to 4, this focus point received a weighted average of 3.53. Sturk explained that in order for a focal point to receive a 4.0 value, every single person would have had to place a 4 value on this topic.

“So, that’s a fairly high weighted average,” he said.

• Real world skills (3.53 weighted average) had 487 people rank it as most important, followed by high quality staffing (430 or a weighted average of 3.41), school safety (445/3.38) and academic growth (379/3.33).

Here’s a closer look how each group viewed focus areas in order of importance:

Parent/Guardian — Student Success and Learning; Real World Skills; High Quality Staffing; School Safety; and Academic Growth.

Students — Real World Skills; Student Success and Learning; School Safety; Academic Growth; and High Quality Staffing.

Teachers — Student Success and Learning; Student Engagement; School Safety; High Quality Staffing; and Real World Skills.

Community Members — Student Success and Learning; Real World Skills; High Quality Staffing; School Safety; and Academic Growth.

Another survey area looked at “core values, which provide a foundation of expected behavior and influence the manner in which we conduct ourselves and engage with others.”

The top 5 were:

• Respect for self and others — 522 responders identified this value as most important (weighted average of 3.57).

• Honesty — 499 felt this value was most important (3.54).

• Responsible — 444/3.49

• Problem Solving Skills — 463/3.48

• Trustworthy — 441/3.46

“It’s really hard to rate core values because all of the words on the survey are good words,” Sturk told directors. “They’re things you value, they’re things you want to value.”

Here’s the order of importance by sub-groups:

Parents/Guardians — Honesty (316/3.74 weighted average), Respect (314/3.73), Integrity (313/3.72), Effective Communication Skills (314/3.68), Responsible (312/3.65).

Students — Respect (272/3.36), Kindness (272/3.30), Honesty (271/3.27), Responsible (271/3.26), Trustworthy (268/3.24).

Teachers — Respect (116/3.61), Responsible (114/3.t54), Problem Solving Skills (116/3.53), Strong Work Ethic (113/3.52), Honesty (113/3.47).

Community Members — Respect (161/3.65), Honesty (159/3.64), Problem Solving Skills (157/3.63), Responsible (156/3.58), Effective Communication Skills (162/3.57).

Other core values on the list were openness, community, flexibility, working collaboratively and fairness.

Sturk closed out the presentation posing the question, “what is the next piece?”

“I don’t want community members to think that we didn’t value it. I’m just really not certain from a strategic plan position where we want to or need to go from here? I’m looking for guidance,” he said. “Looking at the top five values, is that something we really need to have a little bit more focus on and how do we work it in? Where should we use this information? Is one group more important than others?”

Superintendent Al Smith noted that all four sub-groups were “pretty close” in choosing the same core values.

“It wasn’t scattered all over the place,” he said. “Students think a little bit differently than adults. So, it’s not surprising they had a couple different values rated higher, like kindness. But overall, there wasn’t a lot of difference between the top five important pieces for any one group.”

Casco Director Stan Buchanan felt the key to the strategic plan is to base it on what the community wants.

“No strategic plan is based just on that. It’s based on all groups, all parties,” Smith countered. “The community certainly has their position, but we have to value the parents, we have to value the students, and we have to value the teachers and staff. You’re never going to collectively move anything in one direction. A strategic plan encompasses all four areas.”

Bridgton Director Lee Bearse added, “The strategic plan leads us to our vision, right? What we are all working toward. We now have data that will help define that for us.”

Because all four groups were close to placing certain values at the top of their focus list, Smith sees incorporating into the district’s strategic plan “won’t be quite as challenging as it could be to create mission statements.”

While Central Office staff can develop some focus statements, Smith wondered it might be time to resurrect the Strategic Plan Group (“whoever might want to be part of it,” he said) and let the committee “tweak, adjust and add” to those statements before bringing them back for board discussion and more talk on how SAD 61 can reach those goals.

Smith noted that SAD 61 has a strategic plan, but it is “pretty old.”

“Strategic plans, as they are designed, don’t usually change in format a lot. They may change their direction of vision or focus, but the formatting is about the same,” he said.

Board Chair Janice Barter pointed out that some items in the existing plan have been implemented, so it’s time to review and adjust.

“It’s the same vision, but it just needs to really be updated,” she said.

Most SAD 61 schools have their own mission and vision statements in place, and have a core group that oversees the implementation of the vision.

Officials noted that it can be difficult to “measure” exact progress in some areas because “some focus statements are broad” and may mean one thing to some and something different to others.

Others, like improving graduation rates, attendance or reducing behavioral issues, are easier to track.