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Reassessing our plans
Published 8:24pm Tuesday, December 6, 2011Mission statement is an integral part of an effective strategic plan; and Selma City School system has a good mission statement which postulates accordingly, “Selma City School system mission is to provide a nurturing environment which promotes academic excellence as we prepare our students to compete in a global society.”
Our vision statement is also good but, in actuality, a plan gets better with methodical reassessments.
If I have to pull from my regulatory experience, it is obvious that our strategic plan is over due for reassessments; considering what the board has gone through.
I have served on the Selma City School Board for three years and I have worked with four different superintendents; a good reason for us to reassess our strategic plan.
From economic and leadership points of view, high turnover rate, particularly at the top, is not good for any organization. The government regulators, like the one I work for, expect food processing industries to reassess the adequacy of their HACCP Plan (food Safety Plan) at least annually and whenever the corrective and preventive measures are no longer effective or if a detrimental unexpected occurs.
We have to make creative and strategic use of SWOT, STEER, and PEST Analysis. The three techniques for analysis demand that you consider issues like politics, weaknesses, strengths, economy and government regulations when putting your plan together.
Some of the questions that we have to consider are: is the system deeply affected by politics; can we improve that; what are the strengths of our system; how can we maximize our strengths; what are our weaknesses; how can we improve; do we know of any threats and how can we avert or forestall them? Our system will keep improving if the school board and other stakeholders will come together to answer these questions and truthfully implement the solutions.
