HISD Planning Workshop Report - Amazon S3 · 2019-04-09 · STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP REPORT Board of Trustees and Senior Administrators Holliday Independent School District Prepared

STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP REPORT

Board of Trustees and Senior Administrators Holliday Independent School District

Prepared by:

The Azimuth Group, Inc. 3419 Westminster Ave., Suite 215

Dallas, Texas 75205 214.987.3423

[email protected]

February 21, 2019

Holliday Independent School District, Texas Strategic Planning Workshop Final Report

TableofContents

Introduction & Background ............................................................................................................. 1

Planning Process Overview ............................................................................................................. 4

Participant Expectations .................................................................................................................. 6

Environmental Scan (Context Map) ................................................................................................ 7

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) Analysis .................................................. 9

Vision, Mission, and Values ........................................................................................................... 11

Strategic Goals & Objectives ......................................................................................................... 13

Immediate Actions: “Bold Steps” .................................................................................................. 17

Long‐Term Priorities ...................................................................................................................... 19

Strategy Map ................................................................................................................................. 22

Evidence of Success ....................................................................................................................... 24

Recommendations......................................................................................................................... 25

Holliday Independent School District Strategic Planning Workshop Final Report

Page 1

INTRODUCTION&BACKGROUNDThe Holliday Independent School District (“HISD” or “the District”) is a pre‐K through 12 public school

district serving northern Archer County and portions of Wichita County, Texas. The District’s enrollment

is approximately 1,000 students, served by a faculty and staff of approximately 128 personnel, of which

72 are teachers. The District’s schools include one elementary school, one middle school, and one high

school, all three of which “met standard” in the 2018 Texas Education Agency’s accountability ratings,

with additional distinctions recognized for all three schools. Holliday High School offers a college prepar‐

atory curriculum to its students and earned distinction for the postsecondary readiness of its student

body in 2017. A wide range of athletics and other extracurricular activities are offered, with Holliday

High School competing in the 3A category of the University Interscholastic League. Dropout rates are

low to non‐existent, and community support for the District is high.

A seven‐member Board of Trustees sets overall policy for the District, while responsibility for the im‐

plementation and management of the Board’s policies and state standards is vested in the Superinten‐

dent of Schools. Together, the Board of Trustees and the Superintendent comprise the District’s Leader‐

ship Team, with the following mission:

“The Mission of Holliday ISD is to provide a world‐class education for all students in a

culture of academic and extracurricular excellence.”

Recent goals of the District have included:

Study and implement increasing the number of pathways for student endorsements with a focus

on STEM pathways.

Recruit, retain, and develop staff of the highest quality, character, and ethics and maintain high

expectations for professional growth.

Implement High‐Reliability School (HRS) training for staff (teachers and administrators) to im‐

pact student performance with high‐quality instruction.

Board, Administration, and Teachers will be active in communication to the parents and com‐

munity members using various methods.

Holliday ISD will have exceptional facilities to support student learning and extracurricular excel‐

lence.

Continue to implement our long‐range facilities plan and revisit the plan yearly (or as needed)

with quarterly reports to the Board.

Use district financial resources effectively and efficiently for student success.

In order to drive continued success and improvement of the District’s programs and results, the Board of

Trustees – with the support of the Superintendent ‐ has expressed an interest in undertaking a more

formalized strategic planning process. Based on similar work completed for the City of Wichita Falls, AGI

was asked to provide a proposed approach to support the District’s strategic planning effort.

The objectives of the strategic planning project include the following:


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Provide an opportunity for open and collaborative Board of Trustees dialog about the important

current high‐priority issues, constraints, and opportunities facing the Holliday ISD today in the

future.

Encourage teamwork and collaboration among members of the Board and between the Board

and senior District administrators.

Develop a clear sense for the District’s future growth.

Identify important shared values and beliefs to guide District operations and instructional pro‐

grams.

Complete an assessment of the District's strengths and weaknesses, identify potential risks or

threats to organizational success, discuss important strategic opportunities.

Define, document, and prioritization of a set of specific and measurable strategic goals and ob‐

jectives for the District.

In advance of a strategic planning workshop with the Board and senior administrators, AGI’s project

leader completed a series of interviews including:

Board President Barry Hardin

Board Vice President Weldon “Bubba”

Turner

Board Secretary Corey Lindeman

Trustee Philip Dowd

Trustee Blake Jurecek

Trustee Christy Koski

Trustee Eric Morris

Superintendent Kevin Dyes

Business Manager Dustin Scobee

High School Principal Brue Patterson

Middle School Principal Kelly Carver

Elementary Principal Tara Kirkland

Student Services Administrator Kim Booher

Counselor Aniece Andersen

Counselor Julie New

Additionally, the project consultant met with a representative group of individual contributors to invite

their input into the planning process. These included the Athletic Director, Band Director, UIL Coordina‐

tor, and several teachers.

Interview participants addressed the following basic question: “If the strategic planning effort is to be

successful, what would you like to see accomplished?” The table below summarizes the feedback re‐

ceived:

Trustee Perspectives Administrator Perspectives

The favorable result of the Tax Ratification Elec‐tion (TRE) allows reallocation of funding streams from debt service to operations. The District needs a plan for the application of these new revenues

The elementary school is nearing capacity and a plan for addressing that immediate need is im‐portant.

The Board is looking forward and wants to be sure that certain key concerns about the Dis‐trict’s future are addressed. This includes the ul‐timate size of the District, the most effective use of additional operating revenues resulting from the successful TRE election, and addressing a multitude of facility needs and wants.

Attraction, development, and retention of quali‐ty faculty is a top priority for the District.


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Trustee Perspectives Administrator Perspectives

As the District faces the inevitability of enroll‐ment growth, it is important to have clarity around what our grow‐related philosophy should be. The District’s policy and approach to accepting transfer students needs to be dis‐cussed.

Facilities to support the large numbers of stu‐dent extracurricular activities are aging or oth‐erwise inadequate. Pressing needs include the band hall, athletic facilities, parking, and light‐ing.

Starting pay for teachers seems to be low, im‐pacting the District’s ability to attract faculty members.

Alternative educational programs, such as voca‐tional education or other certification programs, are needed. Not all Holliday ISD students are college‐bound.

Girl’s athletic programs are not as competitive as boy’s programs. Attention needs to be paid to achieving parity between boy’s and girl’s ath‐letics in terms of focus and coaching.

Succession planning for our senior administra‐tors is a gap.

As the Wichita Falls school district seeks to im‐prove its facilities, and to the degree that effort succeeds, may have an impact on the number of students seeking transfers into Holliday ISD.

Trust and confidence between the community, the Board, and District administration has im‐proved considerably in more recent years. Hol‐liday ISD is on the right path and the focus should be on how to preserve and extend that progress.

Teacher pay is less competitive than it needs to be to attract teachers to the District.

Facility needs are also high on the list of admin‐istrator priorities. The need for a new band hall, improved athletic facilities – locker room and weight rooms are not functional – and elemen‐tary school expansion were frequently men‐tioned.

Special Education is a growing area of need and an increase in Special Ed faculty is warranted now.

Need for social and mental health services for students is also on the rise. It would be nice to have a full‐time mental health Social Worker on the staff.

There are no Assistant Principal positions in the District. These additional campus‐level adminis‐trators would be helpful in managing growing student populations and in developing future administrative leaders.

More investment in instructional technology and teacher training for its use is needed.

More robust vocational education programs are required.

The planning workshop organized and facilitated by AGI was designed to help the elected and appointed

participants address these and other topics of importance and, in the course of doing so, build a new

atmosphere of shared commitment and mutual respect and trust.


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PLANNINGPROCESSOVERVIEWEffective strategic planning involves the gathering, sorting and prioritizing of the best thinking of the

Holliday Independent School District’s policy leaders and professional educational administrators, fo‐

cused on the core purposes of the District and the most important attributes of success. The Holliday

ISD planning workshop helped the leadership team develop a strategic framework to guide the District’s

decision‐making processes over the next three to five years.

The elements of that framework include:

Validation and revision of the existing statements of the Holliday Independent School District’s

mission statement and core values.

Evaluation of the external environment within which the District operates and must achieve re‐

sults.

Assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for both the District and,

to a lesser degree, the Holliday community itself.

Collaborative identification of strategic goals around which key policy decisions can be evaluat‐

ed and important organizational and operational activities can be aligned and effectively man‐

aged.

Identification of a set of specific, short‐term action steps that can serve as a catalyst for opera‐

tional improvement and organizational progress.

The planning workshop focused primarily on What the Holliday Independent School District needs to do

achieve the Board of Trustee’s priorities for the District’s future. As such, the plan is more strategic and

directional in nature and less about the day‐to‐day How of District operations.

Good strategic planning addresses the issues that challenge you today and, more importantly, those

likely to challenge you tomorrow. Accordingly, the planning workshop served as an exercise in collective

foresight, as both elected leaders and professional staff worked together to clarify what success should

look like for the District, taking into consideration expected future conditions and the direction that the

Trustees determine is in the students’ best interest.

Strategic planning is a product of strategic – not tactical ‐ thinking, which should occur not only at peri‐

odic planning sessions, but on a continuous basis. It involves the gathering, sorting and prioritizing of the

best thinking of Holliday ISD’s leadership team, focused on the core purposes of the District and the

most important attributes of its success. The outcomes presented in this document should serve as a

unifying frame of reference to guide future policy and operating decisions, organizational structures,

business processes, resource allocations, and governance models.

The agenda for the Holliday ISD strategic planning workshop is found on the following page.


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AGENDA HOLLIDAY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP February 2, 2019

Time Activity Participants

7:30 Participants Arrive/Breakfast All

8:00 Welcome/Introductions Board President/Superintendent

8:05 Workshop Overview and Expectations Facilitator/All

8:15 Team Activity/Icebreaker All

8:30 Environmental Scan/Context Map All (What are the significant social, community, economic and organizational forces that might impact our ability to achieve success?)

10:00 Break

10:15 SWOT Analysis All (What are the District’s Strengths/Weaknesses, Opportunities/Threats?)

12:00 Lunch

12:30 Organizational Vision, Mission and Values All (What do we aspire to be? What are we here to accomplish? What do we believe in?)

2:00 Strategic Goals & Objectives All (What are the specific things we need to get done to advance our shared vision and mission?)

3:30 Break

3:45 Goal Prioritization Facilitator/All (Anonymous keypad voting)

4:30 Discussion/Interpretation of Prioritization Results Facilitator/All

4:45 Workshop recap/Next Steps All

5:00 Adjourn Board President/Superintendent


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PARTICIPANTEXPECTATIONSAfter an initial ice‐breaking / team building exercise, the workshop facilitator engaged the participants in

a conversation about their expectations for the workshop. Participant’s listed the following expectations

for a successful workshop:

PLANNING WORKSHOP EXPECTATIONS

Clarity on how to achieve our goals.

Determine how large we want to grow.

Long range planning for facilities, driven by student needs.

Create a process to address key priorities.


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ENVIRONMENTALSCAN(CONTEXTMAP)

Strategic planning cannot occur in a vacuum. Rather, it must be based on a clear understanding of the

environment within which the strategy will be carried out. The District’s Trustees and the most senior

administrators participated in a structured exercise to describe the current conditions impacting Hol‐

liday ISD’s ability to effectively understand, plan and deliver quality public education services to the stu‐

dents, parents, and community it serves.

Known as an “environmental scan,” this exercise was designed to focus the thinking of participants on

the external conditions that may impact the future of the District, including the following:

Societal trends

Community trends

Political factors

Economic climate

Student needs

Technology factors

Uncertainties

In addition to documenting these important factors and trends that might impact the District’s future,

the workshop participants engaged in a productive dialog about the significance of these trends and fac‐

tors for the greater HISD community and their impact on the District’s ability to provide the educational

services and programs the public values and desires.

The result of this environmental scan, in the form of a graphical context map, is shown on the following

page.


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STRENGTHS,WEAKNESSES,OPPORTUNITIES,THREATS(SWOT)ANALYSIS

Whereas the environmental scan was primarily focused on external conditions, SWOT analysis considers

attributes of the Holliday ISD itself. Workshop participants were asked to critically and constructively

evaluate and describe the following aspects of the District’s current situation.

Strengths are those assets and capabilities currently available within the District and/or the local

community and that can be leveraged to achieve desired results.

Weaknesses are those problems, “trouble spots,” or other aspects of the District that are cur‐

rently standing in the way of strategic success and that must be overcome to achieve optimal

results.

Threats are current or potential future external events that, if ignored or otherwise un‐

addressed, have the potential to seriously impair the District’s ability to realize strategic success.

These may be political, economic, societal, natural or man‐made in nature.

Opportunities are future‐focused and are conditions that can, if properly understood, be cap‐

tured to obtain strategic advantage by capitalizing on strengths, overcoming weaknesses and

mitigating threats.

The SWOT matrix on the following page displays the consensus Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities

and Threats identified by the Holliday ISD leadership team.


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VISION,MISSION,ANDVALUESAn organization’s Vision is aspirational in nature. It defines what the organization wants to be or to

achieve. It is an idealized description of the desired future state of District and its role in the community.

Today, there is no formally developed and adopted vision statement for the Holliday Independent

School District. Based on the input of the workshop participants over the course of the day, and specifi‐

cally as the Trustees and staff shared their thinking on the important issue of the District’s future growth

and the importance of preserving Holliday ISD’s traditions, legacy of success, and small‐town environ‐

ment, the elements of a shared vision became increasingly evident.

Accordingly, the AGI planning consultant prepared the following proposed statement of vision for the

District. It should be reviewed, revised and adjusted as necessary to ensure its applicability in today’s

environment and continued relevance for the future:

PROPOSED HOLIDAY ISD VISION STATEMENT

“The Holliday Independent School District’s high‐quality, small school environment sustains and advances a legacy

of achievement for future generations.”

A Mission Statement describes the organization’s purpose. It defines the “business” of the organization

and its relationship to its customers. Workshop participants members briefly reviewed and confirmed

the continued validity of the existing mission statement, as follows.

HOLLIDAY ISD MISSION STATEMENT

“Provide a world‐class education for all students in a culture of academic and extracurricular excellence.”

Core Beliefs or values are the fundamental principles that guide how members of the District should

conduct themselves while carrying out the mission in pursuit of the vision. Together, these beliefs pro‐

vide an ethical framework for decision‐making and action. After reviewing a collection of belief’s state‐

ments from a variety of other public school systems, workshop participants discussed and selected the

following set of statements as best defining the values system that should underpin the District’s ap‐

proach to public education.


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HOLLIDAY ISD CORE BELIEFS

Students First – Always

Parents, teachers, staff, administrators, and the Board of Trustees are partners in the educational process.

Success is driven by high expectations, a safe environment, discipline, and a sense of responsibility to oneself and

others.

A safe environment is necessary for learning.

A tradition of excellence is our legacy.

All students must be post‐high school ready, fully prepared for the workforce and/or higher education.

These three elements – Vision, Mission, and Values – describe the overarching purpose of the Holliday

Independent School District and help to focus decision makers on the strategic goals and priorities nec‐

essary to accomplish the stated mission, in pursuit of the long‐term vision, consistent with the core be‐

liefs and values.


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STRATEGICGOALS&OBJECTIVESWorkshop participants next turned their attention to the specific areas of policy leadership and adminis‐

trative focus that offer the greatest potential for positive impact on the long‐term success of the school

district.

To identify these areas of strategic focus, the workshop facilitator applied a technique known as “future

pull.” Trustees and administrators were challenged to go forward in their minds and to imagine great

success. They were asked to visualize a situation where the District had achieved its vision through the

successful accomplishment of its mission while operating within the frameworks of its core beliefs.

Then they were asked:

“Looking back from a position of great success, what,

specifically, did the District do to achieve that success?”

Each participant listed the action steps that, if taken today, would lead the District to that future posi‐

tion of strategic success. They thought about how to leverage the District’s strengths to overcome

weaknesses and how threats might be mitigated to create opportunities. Many individual ideas were

generated through this process of brainstorming and dialog, with each participant posting ideas written

on “sticky notes” on a large graphical template. Then, working together, the participants rearranged the

sticky notes, grouping closely related ideas together to reveal common strategic themes or goals.

Through this collaborative exchange of ideas, a total of six strategic goals emerged as the most im‐

portant for the Holliday Independent School District’s future. These include:

STRATEGIC GOALS

1. Provide Exceptional Facilities for Growth

2. Support and Develop our Staff

3. Responsively Manage Finances

4. Optimize Student Extracurricular Experiences

5. Enhance Student Achievement

6. Actively Engage the Community

The graphic on the following page documents the detailed results of the goal definition process.


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Within each of the goals, an initial set of strategic objectives can be inferred from the specific ideas

generated by the Board and staff participants. The listing of strategic objectives below should be re‐

viewed, expanded and/or amended by the Trustees and staff as needed to ensure their relevancy for

future planning and action.

The strategic objectives drafted by strategic planning consultant ‐ based on a literal reading of the vari‐

ous suggestions provided by the workshop participants, the identified opportunities in the SWOT analy‐

sis, the group discussion throughout the day, and the consultant’s analysis of the results ‐ include the

following:

1. PROVIDE EXCEPTIONAL FACILITIES FOR GROWTH

1.1 Strategically manage enrollment growth.

Exercise controlled growth

Plan for the future direction and degree of District growth

Preserve our identity as we grow

Target total District enrollment at not more than 1,300, or approximately 100 stu‐

dents per grade level

Board’s preferred policy is to maintain a “small 3A school environment”

Manage enrollment growth by limiting elementary student transfers as necessary

1.2 Implement the long‐range facilities master plan.

Ensure school safety

Build a new band hall

Build (or expand) a new elementary school

Build a new stadium and track

Build a new bus yard

New tennis courts

Parking lot improvements

Renovate the Administration Building

1.3 Plan and establish criteria for a future bond election.

2. SUPPORT AND DEVELOP OUR STAFF

2.1 Ensure faculty and staff levels sufficient to support low student/teacher ratios.

Add Special Education teachers

Add elementary teachers

Add staff for girl’s athletics

2.2 Maintain market‐competitive salaries and benefits.

Increase teacher salaries

2.3 Recruit and retain high‐quality teachers, administrators, and staff.

Hire effective teachers

Continue District of Innovation designation


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2.4 Increase opportunities for professional education, training, and development.

Support and train current teachers

Grow the Art and Science of Teaching program

3. RESPONSIBLY MANAGE FINANCES

3.1 Obtain high School Financial Integrity Rating (FIRST) scores.

3.2 Increase fund balances to support future capital investments.

3.3 Provide clear, concise, transparent financial information to Trustees and the public.

4. OPTIMIZE STUDENT EXTRACURRICULAR EXPERIENCES

4.1 Establish measurable goals for student extracurricular involvement.

Every high school student is involved in at least one extracurricular event or organi‐

zation

Students feel good about attending Holliday schools

4.2 Strengthen girls’ athletics coaching and results.

Hire a Girls Athletic Director

Support appropriate coaching staff and playing time for girls’ athletics

5. ENHANCE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

5.1 Raise the number of students achieving Meets or Masters levels of proficiency.

5.2 Achieve an “A” level state accountability rating for all schools.

8th grade scores are the best in the District

5.3 Set, communicate, and reinforce high expectations for student discipline.

Disciplinary referrals decrease

High expectations for faculty, staff, and community

5.4 Enhance college and career readiness.

More students graduating with Associates degrees

5.5 Maintain high attendance rates.

Target 96% +

5.6 Offer a diverse and challenging curriculum.

6. ACTIVELY ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY

6.1. Support active community involvement of trustees, administrators, and faculty.

Board and administration have buy‐in from the community

6.2. Increase opportunities for meaningful parent involvement.

6.3. Expand community events and service opportunities for students.


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IMMEDIATEACTIONS:“BOLDSTEPS”Once consensus was achieved on the six strategic goals, the focus of the workshop turned to the identi‐

fication of a limited number of specific action steps to complete in the near‐term future. The workshop

participants agreed on 7 specific “bold steps” to begin moving the District forward.

These bold steps are listed below and are included in the goals and objectives graphic included on the

following page.

The “Bold Steps” graphic on the following page captures the results of the goal setting and bold steps

brainstorming activity.

BOLD STEPS

1. Decide on facility priorities and BEGIN.

2. Manage enrollment growth by limiting elementary transfers.

3. Add staff for girls athletics and special education programs.

4. Teach data‐driven instruction methods.

5. Design and administer a parent/student survey.

6. Create SMART goals for Middle and High School extracurricular participation.

7. Take action to strengthen girls sports programs.


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LONG‐TERMPRIORITIESWorkshop participants next engaged in a process of ranking the six strategic goals sing anonymous poll‐

ing technology. Each goal was rated on two separate dimensions: Strategic Importance and Current Per‐

formance.

The first evaluation, Strategic Importance, used a paired comparison / forced choice ranking method to

establish a hierarchy of strategic priorities based on their future importance to the District’s continued

success. Recognizing that the District needs to address all of the identified goals in order to achieve the

desired future state, this ranking process helps to determine the relative importance of each.

The Performance dimension allowed the participants to score how well the District is currently perform‐

ing or succeeding in each of the focus areas on a 1 to 9 scale, with 9 being “practically perfect” and 1

being “not at all.”

Having evaluated each of the goals on both Importance and Performance, it was possible to plot a pro‐

file of the results on a 2x2 matrix, as shown below. Definitions of the four quadrants of the strategy pro‐

file are as follows:

"Immediate Opportunities" are the

high importance/low‐performance

areas and indicate key areas for

added investment. These are areas

that can have major and early im‐

pact on strategic success. They show

where not only "doing things differ‐

ently" but doing different things are

imperative. Implementation

timelines are typically one year or

less, but once started, will likely re‐

quire continued investment over

the longer term.

"Givens" are high importance/high

performance items. They constitute

an organization’s primary strategic priorities and are areas where current efforts should be pre‐

served.

"Maintainers" are low relative importance/high current performance areas and typically repre‐

sent vital supporting functions. They are necessary to the system and should be performed at

least to an acceptable level. It may be that these are areas to consider for reallocation of re‐

sources to more immediate priorities.

"Mid to Long‐term Opportunities" represent future success factors that would likely be brought

on line following the execution of the Immediate Opportunities, if any. These innovations are


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usually 1‐2 years or more out and are those areas that are comparatively low in both relative

importance and current performance.

Both Trustees and administrative staff participated in the ranking exercise. The polling results, segregat‐

ed by Trustee and staff input, are displayed in the matrix below.

This analysis shows:

Both Board members and District administrative staff evaluate the Districts current performance

in all six goal categories to be generally strong, with all rated above the midpoint on the

horizontal performance scale.

Trustees and administrators, overall, share very similar relative priorities for the District’s future.

o The top three priority goals for the Trustees are:

Provide Exceptional Facilities

Support and Develop Staff

Responsibly Manage Finances

o The top three priority goals for the Administrators are:

Support and Develop Staff

Enhance Student Achievement

Provide Exceptional Facilities


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The top three areas in current performance are also closely aligned.

o The highest three performing areas as rated by the Trustees are:


Optimize Student Extracurricular Experiences

Actively Engage the Community

o The top three performing areas as rated by the District’s administrators are:


Optimize Student Extracurricular Experiences

Enhance Current Achievement

There is an apparent divergence of opinion on the relative importance of the following two stra‐tegic goals:

o Trustee rankings place the Facilities goal in the top right quadrant of the matrix, indicat‐ing a “Given” priority and the highest in overall relative importance. Staff rankings, on the other hand, have the Facilities goal in the “Maintainers” quadrant, meaning that it is a foundational/must have goal but lower in relative priority than several other goals. Staff members report that it has long been the culture of the District – even a point of pride ‐ to “make the most of what we have.”

o On the Student Achievement goal, the relative strategic importance of this goal is 2nd overall – only slightly below Staff Development – in the administrative ratings. Trustees rank Student Achievement as 5th overall in their rankings of relative importance. How‐ever, the performance rating on this goal is virtually identical between the two groups. This disparity in the relative importance ratings is likely explained by a high level of con‐fidence and esteem accorded the professional staff by the Trustees and their belief that other goals ‐ such as Facilities and Staff Development – are more “top of mind” for them, given their role in the District.


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STRATEGYMAPA strategy map is simply a graphical depiction of an organization’s strategy in terms of its vision, mission,

core values, strategic goals, and business objectives. It serves as a quick reference guide to the District’s

strategy and is a useful tool for organizing and aligning departmental plans, objectives, and resources in

support of the overall plan. A strategy map summarizing the Holliday Independent School District’s

strategy is shown on the following page. This map represents the overall product of the strategic plan‐

ning workshop and includes a total of eight strategic goals and 24 supporting objectives.


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EVIDENCEOFSUCCESSOnce this plan is approved and adopted, it will be important that the results of the planning effort are

monitored, measured and reported. If the Holliday Independent School District were to realize its vision

and accomplish its mission, in accordance with its values, how would things be different? How will we

know if we are making progress? At the highest level, how should we measure our performance?

Workshop participants suggested the following as potential indicators of strategic success:

EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS

A continuing and growing demand for student transfers shows the high desirability of the District.

State of the art facilities evidence high levels of community supportfor the District’s programs.

A high percentage of students involved in extracurricular activities indicates the value of leadership and character development.

Declining levels of disciplinary actions suggest improving levels of student engagement in their learning.

A zero dropout rate evidences an increasing number of students prepared for work and/or higher education.

“A” scores on the Texas School Accountability Rating systems demonstrates the District’s commitment to student academic achievement.

High parent satisfaction survey results show how well the expectations of the families served by the District are being met.

The absence of negative phone calls also suggests that the District’s “customers” are pleased.

A high college and career readiness index provides confidence that the District is preparing its graduates for lifetime success.

Increasing property tax revenues provide additional resources to continue a tradition of excellence as the District grows.


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RECOMMENDATIONSThe planning workshop represented a forward‐looking initiative of the District’s elected and appointed

leaders to exercise strategic foresight as they grapple with the issues of addressing growth, the changes

that growth will bring, and the desire of the Holliday community to preserve the things that have made

the District special over many years. The availability of new funding streams, the pressing needs for im‐

provements to the District’s physical plant, and the continuing commitment to deliver excellence in both

instruction and extracurricular activities, combined to make the strategic planning effort both relevant

and timely, establishing a solid foundation for future improvement.

RECOMMENDATION Review, discuss and refine the strategic plan presented in this report as necessary and appropriate.

The Board, Superintendent, and staff should work together to review and confirm the strategic goals

and objectives established in the planning workshop. Importantly, the staff should be directed to care‐

fully examine the various objectives and provide advice to the Board regarding any needed revisions,

additions, clarifications, etc. Then, specific implementation tasks, along with assigned management ac‐

countabilities and target progress milestones and completion dates over the next 3‐5 years, should be

developed and recommended to the Board for adoption.

RECOMMENDATION Commit to a regular process of strategic planning di‐rectly linked to the budget process.

Going forward, District leadership should consider the development of a disciplined practice of collabo‐

rative strategic planning on a periodic. An annual or bi‐annual planning retreat should be considered and

used to evaluate progress made on projects and objectives established for the year, to review current

and projected financial conditions and to consider needed updates to the strategic goals, objectives, and

priorities.

The results of the regular strategic planning retreat, along with any policy guidance provided by the

Board of Trustees, become the foundation for the staff’s development of the annual budget and sup‐

porting operating plans, performance measures and targets.

RECOMMENDATION Identify and adopt reporting tools and processes to track and report results, identify further improvement opportunities, and document results.

Once the Board adopts the District’s strategic plan, it becomes the documented policy of the governing

body and the Superintendent is accountable for its execution. The Trustees should focus on the desired

outcomes they expect the District to achieve while allowing the Superintendent and his staff to concen‐


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trate on the detailed means by which those outcomes are achieved, subject to limitations and guidelines

established by the Board and law.

By making sure that strategic goal attainment and results are measured and reported to the Board and

the general public, an improved focus on accountability for results is created and can strengthen the

partnership between the Trustees and the professional educators of the District.


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Documents

HISD Planning Workshop Report - Amazon S3 · 2019-04-09 · STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP REPORT Board of Trustees and Senior Administrators Holliday Independent School District Prepared