Strategic plan approved for Macon County Schools

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Strategic plan approved for Macon County Schools

Macon County Schools has spent the better part of a year undergoing a strategic planning process that charts a course for the school system’s future.

At its last meeting, the Board of Education unanimously approved the concept of the plan and permitted administration to move forward with finalization and implementation of the plan.

“Let me express my thanks to everyone involved,” said Board Chairman Jim Breedlove. “It’s a very positive step forward.”

Macon County received grant funding for a strategic planning process from the Dogwood Health Trust, and contracted with Open Way Learning, a nonprofit that specializes in education planning.

“It really gave us an opportunity to look at innovative ideas as well as goals and strategies that we can put in place within our district to really impact our community,” said Superintendent Josh Lynch in a presentation to the board July 22.

The planning process resulted in a strategic plan that rests on four pillars — community engagement, curriculum and instruction, professional development and technology.

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“We were able to look at our community goals, our needs, but also really look at our assets that we have,” said Lynch. “I think oftentimes, when we look at school improvement or district-wide improvement, we’re constantly looking to grow and better, which we should, but we also need to really take hold of the assets that we have, there are a lot of assets that we need to be proud of that we can capitalize on and really use that as momentum as we spring forward.”

The planning process began in January with a capacity-building phase in which planners took inventory of the system and what resources it has at its disposal. For Lynch, this step felt akin to the listening phase of his leadership after assuming the role of superintendent.

“I think one of the greatest things that I have been able to really get out of this project is I don’t have to do all the talking. I don’t have all the answers, I can find the answers from individuals that I’m surrounded by, the community, the leadership, the teachers, the principals, our students,” said Lynch.

Throughout the capacity–building phase of the planning process, Open Way Learning conducted empathy interviews with a host of stakeholders including students, teachers, principals and community members to gather data about what is working in the school system and what could be improved upon. In total, the interview process involved 12 focus groups, 85 students, 36 educators and more than 55 community members.

“I think when you go through this process, you have to humble yourself because it may not be what you want to hear. But it gives us an opportunity for growth and to springboard,” said Lynch. “I tell you what, we have a lot to be proud of in our students. Just the fact that they were able to engage and offer and give insight as well as input, I was very impressed.”

The second phase involved a lot of the heavy lifting in which collaborators worked to design a plan and then refine it through sessions with principals. This phase wrapped up in April, as the busy end of the school year approached, and over the summer, principals and central office staff worked to polish and finalize an initial plan that could be brought before the school board.

“Now we’re at our final stage, which is the implementation stage,” Lynch told the board at its July meeting. “If we have approval, then we have a plan for principals to be able to push out in and amongst the schools.”

The expectation of the overall plan is to support and set students up for success during their pre-K-12 educational journey with Macon County Schools and beyond; prepare students to enroll, enlist or secure employment; and be ready for administrators to present the strategic plan to their faculty and staff at the start of the 2024-25 school year.

Career and Technical Education Director presented the community engagement pillar to the Board of Education, noting the abundance of resources at the school system’s disposal due to its location in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

“Our goals are to build strong, meaningful relationships between our schools and various community stakeholders including local businesses, nonprofits, government agencies and cultural institutions,” said Strickland. “We want to make sure that our students have equal access to these valuable connections regardless of the school they attend.”

The community engagement aspect of the strategic plan is intended to help students develop essential skills like communication, collaboration, problem solving and leadership. To encourage participation, leadership plans on introducing incentives such as recognition programs, family involvement activities and co-curricular learning opportunities.

“One thing that came up many times during our tuning session was the heritage days that are hosted at some of our schools,” said Strickland. “Everyone would like to have some form of heritage days at the schools.”

Chief Academic Officer and Director of Federal Programs Mickey Noe presented the curriculum and instruction pillar to the board.

“The vision for our curriculum and instruction plan is to enhance student learning outcomes to align curriculum and high impact instructional strategies grounded in research and evidence-based practices,” said Noe. “Our key focus areas are going to be aligned curriculum, where we’re going to develop curriculum maps and pacing guides so that all of our schools are on the same level and are using the same pacing guides to make sure that we have a proper scope and sequence from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade.”

Noe said that administration will likely change both the current grading system and homework policies.

“We’re looking at changing our current grading system and adopting standards-based grading system which is really different from the current system that we are utilizing currently,” Noe said. “Homework policies traditionally are starting to become a thing of the past. We’re looking at doing project-based type of grading systems where students are graded on projects that they’re doing throughout the classroom throughout the year and offering incentives for that type of learning as well.”

Noe also said that the school system would work to facilitate professional learning communities (PLC) across different schools. Whereas now PLC and professional development for teachers tend to take place amongst teachers within one school, MCS would like to implement PLCs for teachers across the district that teach similar subjects and/ or grade levels.

“One of the most important tools for us to be successful in curriculum moving forward is to make sure we’re all on the same page,” said Noe. “And when you’re currently doing PLCs with people in your school only, you’re just missing some of the best teaching and some of the best strategies that we have to offer.”

STEM Coordinator Jennifer Love presented the professional development pillar to the school board and stressed the importance of time and support for staff.

“We know that our teachers are stressed; they’re having to take on additional roles such as being school nurses when there is no nurse, mental health support when there is no mental health support in our schools,” said Love. “So because of these additional roles, one of the things that they highlighted here is there must be additional time offered to teachers to tackle new ideas.”

Teachers need time set aside to tackle new ideas, new initiatives and new curricula to the best of their ability. Rather than placing all training and professional development after school hours — when many teachers are responsible for athletic coaching, have other academic responsibilities or are caring for their own families — administration is suggesting that that training take place during school hours, whether on workdays or early release days.

Administration has outlined support and recruitment goals for attracting and retaining qualified staff.

Finance Director Alayna Ledford presented the technology pillar to the school board.

“The overall goal of the technology pillar is to provide students with knowledge, necessary skills and appropriate technology to create transformative digital learning experiences in an everchanging digital world,” said Ledford.

While student education and access to technology is an important part of this pillar, it is also equally important for staff. The school system will begin using Infinite Campus in the coming year which will help digitize a slew of forms that families are required to fill out each year and facilitate information and communication for families.

The finance department is also starting with a new system this year that will allow all finance workers across the system to be on the same page.

Funding will be an important part of this pillar as school systems now have to find the money to provide not only for student devices, but also to systems and software for staff.

The four pillars are all intended to support the Macon County School System moving forward now that the board has approved the initial strategic plan. Any policy changes, like those that are being looked at for homework and grading, will still have to come before the board in a public meeting per its usual process.

Administration will now move forward with finalization and implementation of the plan for the 2024-25 school year, with the school board requesting presentation and approval of the final version of the plan.

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