School District 8 (Kootenay Lake) is working to renew their strategic plan in order to set their mission statement, vision, goals and priorities for the board of education for the next five years.
Superintendent Trish Smillie says the process relies on getting feedback from the community as to how they deliver on their mandates in the district.
“The strategic plan is designed to take the public education mandate and provide a local context on how we reach that mandate,” Smillie says. “We are moving forward with the engagement process to seek consultation from the community, staff, and all engaged partners.”
Smillie, says the process to gather input has already begun and it is looking for public input on important issues.
“The current plan is expiring at the end of 2023,” Smillie says. “The board is consulting on a plan for 2024 to 2029. We have begun the process through a strategic plan engagement process so members of the community can let us know what they think is important in this plan.”
She says since this plan is so important, and must reflect the mandates set by the province, they are providing several ways for people across the district to part-take in the process.
“The process will be done both virtually, and face-to-face,” she says. “This way people will have the opportunity to meet with the board and visit our website to participate, and view some research about the district.”
She says once the engagement process is completed, at the end of February, the board will take all the information, and analyze it before building the plan.
“We will have community meetings in the third week of February in different communities to hear feedback, as well as a public webinar will be held for those who can’t attend.”