City Schools of Decatur hosting strategic plan town hall meetings
Elizabeth Wilson School Support Center, City Schools of Decatur. Photo by Dean Hesse.
Decatur, GA — City Schools of Decatur Superintendent Maggie Fehrman is hosting three town hall meetings this week focusing on the district’s strategic plan.
She will review the information discussed at the Strategic Plan Team meeting, and the goals and performance objectives that have been drafted. In addition, the town halls will provide the community an opportunity to add their feedback and make sure CSD has aligned its goals with what the community wants to see over the next five years.
Here is the schedule for the town hall meetings:
– Nov. 1 — 10 am – 11 am (virtual) https://csdecatur.
– Nov. 3 — 12 pm – 1:30 pm (virtual) https://csdecatur.
– Nov. 3 — 6:30 pm – 8 pm (in person) at the DHA Community Resource Center at 481 Electric Avenue
The Decatur School Board is working with the Georgia School Boards Association to develop the strategic plan. The district and GSBA have hosted community engagement opportunities and are currently working with the planning team.
The planning team is facilitated by GSBA and the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement (GLISI). The team will look at a few essential questions: “Who Are We? Where Are We Now? Where Do We Want To Go,” a spokesperson for CSD said.
The strategic plan is a community-inspired plan to help set the direction for what the school district can be over the next five years, Fehrman previously told Decaturish.
“What was great today at the planning team meeting is I was just listening. I didn’t have to analyze the data. I didn’t have to participate in conversations because it’s not about the superintendent,” Fehrman said. “It’s about what our community and what our staff want to see City Schools of Decatur become, what our goals should be.”
CSD doesn’t currently have a strategic plan that is being implemented, although a strategic plan was developed by the previous administration.
“Most districts all have a strategic plan because it informs what the board will set the budget to achieve. It informs staffing plans. It informs what kind of professional development you’ll invest in,” Fehrman said. “I started in the district in 2018. It was already swept aside.”
At the time, there was no centralized accountability for the school board to dictate its unified focus and how it would like to align resources to accomplish its goals. The school district was also going through changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring a new superintendent and having new school board members. CSD waited until it has more stability before moving forward with developing a strategic plan.
“Now that we’ve got stability, we’ve got people in place, we’ve got the desire from the community, which is great, to really have a good strategic plan,” Fehrman said. “That just made it the right time to move forward, so we can focus on what’s important for [the district].”
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