Committee Reaffirms Commitment to 5-year Document with New Add
(From Press Release) – Over the weekend, Davis Joint Unified School District called together the 26-member group of administrators, teachers, parents, bargaining group members, city officials, community members and current students for a two-day strategic planning session. The session marked the second annual update to the plan that was approved by the Board of Education in June 2014. The outcomes of this gathering included reaffirmation of the District’s current beliefs, mission, objectives, strategies and parameters.
In addition, the committee took initiative to recommend a new strategy to create a comprehensive human resource system aimed at recruiting and retaining a “highly-qualified” and “diverse staff”; this in the face of fiscal challenges resulting from a new state finance formula that disadvantages Davis from its neighboring districts as well as large-scale retirements and teacher shortages.
Speaking from the meeting, School Board member Alan Fernandes, who has served on the Strategic Planning Committee since its initiation, offered, “I am honored to be part of this process and continue to be impressed by the caliber of diverse people and perspectives. This year there have been new and robust discussions about the meaning of equity in our schools and also how to approach real threats to our system from the growing scarcity of fiscal and human resources.”
The committee spent two days reviewing progress, hearing updates from district administrators and identifying areas for growth. The Strategic Plan with the newly recommended strategy will require School Board approval and then, if approved, will trigger the formation of a new ‘Action Team’ comprised of school community volunteers to meet for a to-be-determined period over the course of the next school year. The committee also agreed to reconvene to discuss the role of educational equity in the strategic plan.
