Establishing a clear and carefully considered vision can play an important role in determining the future success of a business or organization.
As a strong proponent of that principle, we were interested to learn that Willoughby-Eastlake School District Superintendent Patrick Ward recently hosted a community shareholder’s meeting to provide an update on the district’s shared vision.
For the last two years, the district spent an intentional period of time engaging the community, The News-Herald’s Marah Morrison reported. Last year, the district had more than 30 Coffee Talks, a series which allowed for engagement across the entire district and to ask the questions in regard to what students need to be successful.
“During that investigation and listening tour, we developed, collectively and collaboratively, our shared vision,” he said.
Ward said the shared vision is rooted in the following areas: academics and future readiness; the Willoughby-Eastlake experience; fiscal stewardship; safety, security and technology; and community engagement and communication.
The district experience includes activities like the arts and music education, co-curricular and extracurricular offerings, athletics and others that make school a joyful experience for students, Ward said.
“Those priorities framed up the conversation we’ve been having all this year in Willoughby-Eastlake Schools,” he said. “The resources we have — we’re intentional about aligning those resources through that strategic, shared vision.”
The state of the school district is strong, Ward said, as it’s in a position to lead the way in education and be the primary voice when it comes to talking about future readiness.
“I couldn’t be more proud about this district, our students, residents and this community when it comes to the collective voice we have as the 32nd largest school district in Ohio,” he said. “I don’t think people realize because of the small town, hometown feel you get when you come into our schools. We forget we’re the 32nd largest out of 611 schools that are public schools in Ohio.”
Ward spent some time explaining the current state of finances for the district and the potential effect of proposed legislation by the state on school district funding.
“We could be partners with Ohio and figure out a way to responsibly deliver tax relief to Ohioans,” he said. “It’s about talking about a complicated problem and giving it the time and attention it deserves. Sometimes complicated things get solved fast and there’s unintended consequences that leave the local residents and taxpayers with the bill in the end.”
The district is at that juncture currently, Ward said. It’s not an argument against what the state is trying to do, but the district making the argument that it wants to do it in partnership and together, he added.
“Let’s engage our local legislature in conversations about how you deliver relief without inadvertently impacting residents in the 611 school districts in Ohio,” Ward said.
Local control and local voice is the most important thing for the district to preserve, Ward said. Residents have a voice in the quality of education students receive and the district’s job is to assure it delivers the promise it creates collaboratively so it can lead the way, continuing to be proud of the work taking place across all campuses.
“Pride is pervasive across all of our campuses, despite the challenges Willoughby-Eastlake’s been through for the last decade,” Ward said.
The Willoughby-Eastlake School Board has also been committed to focusing on instruction, students and low cost.
“Our commitment to the shared vision remains our primary focus, so one of our core commitments as a district is to talk about tax dollars at work,” Ward said. “Our commitment is to be fiscally responsible, stretch our dollars and stay off the ballot. We want to make sure we don’t overburden our residents and taxpayers.”
The district’s core investments as part of the shared vision includes investing in academics in the classroom and education, Ward said. This year, the district invested in a literacy curriculum that provided teachers with the foundation of the resources and support necessary to assure the district is aligned to reading, students receiving instruction they need and teachers having the materials to deliver.
“We continue to double down in assuring our kids have guaranteed, viable curriculum across the classroom,” Ward said. “We implemented STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) education this year in our elementary school, Teaming at the middle level, career capstone courses, flex learning and exploration of expanding AP programming, and CCP (college credit plus) offerings for the high school.”
The News-Herald commends Willoughby-Eastlake Schools for its energetic and thoughtful efforts to develop a strategic shared vision for the district. We believe that this endeavor has the potential to significantly and positively impact the future of Willoughby-Eastlake Schools.
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