Spencer School Board approves strategic planning process

By Valorie Brecht The Spencer School District has decided to initiate a strategic planning process to provide a guiding document and framework for making major decisions regarding the district.

At the March 20 school board meeting, Jason Gorst, 7-12 grade principal, outlined a couple of proposals for strategic planning. One was JSC Consulting led by Dr. Joe Schroeder. The cost for Schroeder to lead the district in creating a five-year strategic plan would be $14,700 plus expenses. Schroeder is an associate executive director of the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators.

Schroeder has assisted in strategic planning for the McFarland, Somerset and Lake Mills school districts. His model for strategic planning includes a weekend intensive in which a group of 25 school district stakeholders meet all day on a Friday and half a day on Saturday to work through a strategic plan. The cost includes examining and revamping the school district’s mission, vision and values.

Jason Gorst also got a quote from Nexus, as the school district already planned to do a facilities study with that company. It would cost $2,740 to do a strategic plan with that company, and it would take four to six months to complete. Gorst recommended starting sometime in August and finishing in the new year.

Strategic planning sessions would take place on weekday evenings, which Gorst felt would be more convenient for staff and community members, and lead to better results. The plan does not include mission, vision and values, but Nexus said those could be added on for an additional fee.

“My recommendation would be to go with Nexus (instead of JSC Consulting) because it’s a significant cost savings, the structure of it fits us better and it will fit with our facilities study because it’s the same company,” said Gorst.

Board members agreed with Jason Gorst’s reasoning.

“If we think we can get more engagement by having the sessions after school rather than on the weekend, then I think we should do that,” said Becky Gorst.

One of the board members also asked about community engagement and how to make sure the public was looped in on the process.

“There are a lot of engagement surveys that go out to the community and staff so they’re part of it,” said Jason Gorst.

Board member Jordan Buss said he was willing to approve the Nexus proposal, but was curious in potentially revisiting the school district’s mission, vision and values. He asked Jason Gorst if he could reach out to Nexus and see how much it would cost to add that on, which Jason Gorst said he would do. Buss made a motion, seconded by Barb Wesle, to approve a strategic planning initiative with Nexus. That passed unanimously.

Other business Also at the meeting, the principals and administrator each gave a report.

Jason Gorst shared about ACT testing. The juniors had ACT testing the week of March 11. The other high school students were sent on field trips that day to create a quiet environment for testing. They went to Northcentral Technical College, Mid-State Technical College or UW-Stevens Point to see what educational opportunities were available there.

Gorst said the school employed some new strategies to try and minimize the number of “tankers,” that is, students that just open the test and click through it as fast as possible without trying. Those strategies included having staff members that students felt connected to reach out to individual students to encourage them to do their best on the test. Gorst said he would also be offering a picnic to students who did well on the test, showed growth or showed evidence they were trying their hardest, with the top scorers earning a steak.

Gorst reported the music department went on a trip to New York, which went well. Graduation will be May 18 at noon. He also said that Children’s Wisconsin was looking for a place in the school to provide counseling.

“We’re looking at maybe repurposing one of our old staff rooms, as we want to provide ease of access for mental health services,” said Gorst.

A couple of staff members attended the WISEdata

Please see Planning, page 7