Schools

East Rock makes plan

District to assemble a five-year strategic plan

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The East Rockaway School District will be embarking on an effort to plan for the future of their schools in the coming months, as officials announced recently that the school will be completing a five-year strategic plan.

Superintendent Lisa Ruiz said the district’s decision to map out a long-term plan is their response to the quickly changing environment of education.

“With the tax cap and all the other mandates we are working with, along with everything that is changing in the field, the board of education decided it would be in our best interest, both strategically and financially, to have a five-year plan,” she explained. “It was a good time to do it. With all those financial factors plus the changes in educational standards, the implementation of the common core curriculum, and the increased emphasis on college and career readiness, we thought it we should be a bit more focused.”

The strategic planning process, which began in mid-2014, will take roughly until September to complete Ruiz said. There are several steps in the process. First, the district will begin an Internal Environmental Scan, which began in September of 214 and remains ongoing. This scan gathers information on the district, including hard data and resident perception.

As this scan has been conducted, a Steering Committee, responsible for taking the results of this scan to help identify and plan for the district’s goals and challenges over the next few years. The committee is made up of residents and school officials alike, and is Ruiz said the district is still actively seeking members for the steering committee.

“We’re looking for voices from all over and across East Rockaway,” she said. “We have some members of the committee, teachers, district leaders, parents, people like that, set already. We’re still looking for as many resident voices and perspectives as we can get, so those that think they can help and want their voice in these conversations should get in touch with my office.”

The Steering Committee will meet for the first time in early February. They will complete the Environmental Scan by surveying residents and conducting focus groups to find out what residents most want to see from the district.

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