1. STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
CHESTER SCHOOL DISTRICT
2017

2. STRATEGIC PLANNING J. M. Bryson defines strategic planning as:
“A disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it. To deliver the best results, strategic planning requires broad yet effective information gathering, development and exploration of strategic alternatives, and an emphasis on future implications of present decisions.”

3. Value of Strategic Planning
Establishes a vision, mission, and beliefs for the school district
Relates organizational capacity to community need
Raises awareness of current issues and operations
Establishes a path to accomplish a desired future
Creates a document suitable for public relations
Provides a path for the community to work together to accomplish the goals of the strategic plan
Gives the ability to anticipate and react to external forces
Allows the district to set specific data-driven priorities
Serves as a tool for decision making and resource allocation

4. Strategic Planning Process
Four Phases: Phase 1: Understanding Phase 2: Visioning Phase 3: Writing Phase 4: Implementation

5. The Strategic Planning Process: Understanding
Phase 1: Understanding.
Gathering Information to identify the current state of the district and community as well as the desired future state. This by necessity involves authentic stakeholder engagement involving district leadership, administration, faculty, staff, parents, students, and community leaders. This phase will also focus on data collection regarding student and operational performance to provide a factual basis for analysis of the stakeholder input.

6. Strategic Planning: Visioning
Phase 2: Visioning.
The second phase of the strategic planning process focuses on establishing the overall direction of the district (mission, vision etc.) as well as priority initiatives that will be set forth in the strategic plan. The information collected in Phase 1 will be assembled and analyzed to support deliberations in this phase.

7. Strategic Planning: Writing
Phase 3:
Writing. The formal strategic plan will be developed in this phase. The mission, vision and strategic initiatives will be translated into discrete action items. Resources will be identified and prioritized and benchmarks/timelines will be established.

8. STRATEGIC PLANNING: IMPLEMENTATION
Phase 4:
Maintaining Commitment
Tracking Status
Informing the Community on Progress- Scorecard
Identifying the Need for Mid Course Corrections