Strategic planning: A look at one superintendent’s new approach

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A five-year strategic plan is great but creating a roadmap that far into the future can be tricky. That’s why Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School District adheres to an 18-month plan with measurable milestones the community can celebrate along the way.

Not long after he was hired in June 2022, Superintendent Christopher Meyrick filled positions for Director of Student Services and Director of Curriculum. It was then that he first considered shortening his strategic plan to 18 months.

“I had two directors with a fresh set of eyes who had not been in the district who could be objective,” says Meyrick.

Meyrick says he steers away from the traditional five-year program because “we don’t know where we’re going to be.” Instead, he develops six-month blocks to better assess progress.

First six months: processes, procedures

Meyrick and his team had been responding reactively to various internal processes, procedures, and plans. By the end of 2023, they recognized the necessity of systematically documenting their approaches. Consequently, they developed a comprehensive 18-month plan and implemented it by January 2024.

“We need to have a game plan in place to carry out these processes and have success at the end of the road,” he says.

Second six months: plans, responsible parties

Meyrick says the summer months were spent expanding on those procedures—for example, identifying the district’s multi-tiered systems of support for students in need.

These plans were then communicated during board meetings and became a public goal in the community.

“Our vision is to promise every Wolverine a future,” he says. “Without question, this is our non-negotiable in the Woodstorn-Pilesgrove Regional School District.”

Final six months: celebrations, persistent practices

Now, the district is in the middle of the final six months of its strategic plan, solidifying its procedures into persistent practices so that they’re “a part of who we are rather than just another initiative,” says Meyrick.

“It [the strategic plan] allows us to have checkpoints, and once we accomplish those, we’re able to celebrate with our staff and their efforts,” he says.


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Setting priorities

If you’ve got a five-year window to write out your goals, it’s easy to map your priorities. But, Meyrick says, he avoids calling his plans “initiatives.” Instead, he zeroes in on the district’s “persistent practices.”

“When I hear the word initiative, it means we’re going to do it for one year, assign the professional development and forget about it the next year,” he says. “Persistent practice means this is who Woodstown-Pilesgrove is and who we are on a consistent basis.”

For this, Meyrick refers to the conversations and surveys he conducted after he arrived in 2022. He spoke with any willing employee, from custodians to principals, about what he needed to prioritize.

“It wasn’t about who spoke the loudest, but being able to listen to everyone and triangulate that data to set our focus and move forward,” he explains.

Above all, Meyrick credits much of the district’s success of its strategic plan to the unwavering commitment of his staff.

“I often say that it takes a community to educate a student,” he says. “Without the unwavering support of our Board of Education, district staff, administrative team, and community, this would not be possible. I am just fortunate to be a part of this incredible team!”

Celebrating wins along the way

Meyrick believes that setting manageable goals, like his 18-month plan, is beneficial to the morale of a school district. It allows for clearer missions and more frequent celebrations when they’ve been accomplished.

“It gives us an opportunity to look at the focus, identify key elements of success—or the opposite—and how we turn it into a persistent practice,” he explains.

Meyrick strives to ensure folks are included in the process and can contribute their unique strengths. The district’s successes should then be celebrated with those individuals.

“I can go to our ELA team at the middle school when they outperform our state’s expectation as it relates to our New Jersey student learning assessment,” he concludes. “We celebrate in front of them, in front of the whole community and staff. It becomes a celebration, and we celebrate any time we’ve completed a plan.”

Micah Ward
Micah Wardhttps://districtadministration.com
Micah Ward is a District Administration staff writer. He recently earned his master’s degree in Journalism at the University of Alabama. He spent his time during graduate school working on his master’s thesis. He’s also a self-taught guitarist who loves playing folk-style music.

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