On March 16th, 2022, there was a small but mighty group of advisory committee members convened at the Education and Administration Center for three hours. That group split into smaller groups of 3 or 4 and conducted a SWOT analysis, developed priorities and aims for the following topics: 

• Community Dynamics 
• Financial Factors 
• Human Resources 
• Physical Resources 
• Academics
• Whole Child Factors 

Fueled by delicious salad and turkey rolls, the group powered through a dynamic session centered in collaboration, providing thoughtful feedback that resulted in a strong set of priorities and aims related to each of the topics.

March Madness 

March has been a busy month for strategic planning in Birmingham Public Schools. Due to the predictable mid-west March snow storm, the third advisory committee meeting was rescheduled to March 8th. Kathy and Matt from Hanover Research had an ambitious plan for the three-hour virtual meeting, which included:   

• Review and Collaborate on Core Values, Vision, and Mission 
• Analyze Gaps through Data Review 
• Conduct SWOT Analysis
• Draft Priorities, Aims, and SMARTIE Goals 

The committee was able to review a synthesis of feedback provided by the review committee on the draft core values:  

• Combine Equity and Inclusion? Combine Equity, Inclusion and Community?
• Achievement – including a component around striving to meet their full potential.
• Community – perhaps “cooperation” instead of “partnership” in definition.
• Perseverance – perhaps “resilience” instead of or in addition to?
• Incorporate home/parent connection in all values?
• Embed “Perseverance” and “ integrity” with all four other values?
• Being more specific with language – i.e., “authentic assessment;” “all” – change to “every;” “shared responsibility.” 

After reviewing the feedback, the committee engaged in a discussion about what they agreed with in the feedback. The committee will spend an entire homework session in the month of April revising the draft vision, mission, and core values after they have deeply analyzed and considered the focus group and strategic plan survey data.  

The remainder of the session was designed to model for the committee how to conduct a root cause and SWOT analysis and draft priorities, aims and SMARTIE goals.  

At the end of the session, the committee had an initial understanding of the task ahead for the homework session and they had brainstormed some big bucket priorities such as: Improved Academic Outcomes, Providing Students with Advanced Curriculum, Allocating Human Resources Based on Need, Mechanisms for Equitable Support Resources, Teacher Workload/Wellbeing, Strengthening Home/School Relationships, Equity for Learners, and Inclusive School Communities. Further, the committee decided that moving forward we would meet in person.