Alison Sidow
School District 73 is developing a five-year strategic plan that will guide the organization in educating students while adapting to a new B.C. curriculum.
The new curriculum focuses on developing the competencies of critical and creative thinking, social and cultural awareness, foundational skills in literacy and numeracy, design thinking and career education.
Currently under development, our strategic plan will fulfill the organization’s vision of being “a dynamic school district achieving success for all learners through a commitment to equity and excellence.”
Since August, a multi-disciplinary Strategic Partnership Committee, representing all stakeholders, has been working on the plan with a goal of completion by February 2017.
Each education partner has had the opportunity to share ideas with their membership and collect input around the development of our new vision and mission, as well as the goals we’ve developed to advance the plan.
Our multi-disciplinary approach has expanded from previous strategic plans to ensure all stakeholder voices are considered and that the end result is realistic and actionable.
The initiative is timely as it follows closely the Ministry of Education’s mandate to transform education through its BC Education Plan.
The provincial plan has introduced new curriculum for grades kindergarten to Grade 9 this year with the graduation program being introduced in September 2018.
The Strategic Plan will define our direction, help shape decisions on resource allocations and guide individual actions and organizational change.
Within it, each of our goals includes ways in which we can measure our success or make adaptations when we are falling short.
One of the key parts of the plan is to strengthen partnerships with the community to “enhance the way we lead, learn and work together.”
To that end, more than 1,600 parents have provided feedback on our plan, which will be used over the next month to further shape the direction of our district.
We’re confident that through our multi-stakeholder approach to planning, we will have an end result that reflects the needs of our students, and provides them with a strong foundation and the thinking competencies required for a successful future.
– Alison Sidow is superintendent of the Kamloops-Thompson school district. To contact Sidow, send an email toasidow@sd73.bc.ca. This article first appeared in Kamloops This Week.