Strategic Plan - Empower95

Goal Area:  Students

Action Plans

• Student Language Offerings
• Career Exploration/Pathways, Personal Interests, and Authentic Learning
• School Safety
• Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Standard Integration
• Post-Secondary Employability Skills

Goal Area:  Staff 

Action Plans

• Staff Professional Learning, Diverse Student Needs
• Staff Recruitment, Retention, and Development
• Candidate Recruitment & Hiring
• Staff/Administrator Growth & Learning

Goal Area:  Resources 

Action Plans

• Furniture Replacement to Promote Ideal Classroom Environments
• LZHS Facilities Improvements Enhancing Programming & Student Experiences
• Implement New Student Information System
• Transportation Real Estate Investment Analysis
• Energy Cost Reduction Analysis Through Solar

Goal Area: Family & Community  

Action Plans

• Stakeholder Engagement
• Social Media Engagement

Using a strategic planning framework which was presented to the Board of Education in July 2022, the process included a wide range of stakeholder involvement. Nearly 60 people participated on two teams representing the following stakeholder groups: parents, PTO representatives, high school students, middle school students, teachers, administrative support staff, administrators, community partners including local government representatives, area business representatives, Educational Foundation representatives, higher education representatives, and Board of Education members. In addition, nine Cabinet members were present as observers, presenters, and occasionally as participants in meetings. Across both teams, participants were highly engaged throughout the process.

The Strategic Planning team was formed with approximately 40 team members from the stakeholder groups mentioned above. The team met in person six times from August through January with some additional work outside of the meeting times. The focus of this team was to review and define the district’s Mission, Vision, Values, Goals, and Strategies, providing the Strategic Planning framework under which action plans (projects) will be created annually. Each team member contributed approximately 22 hours of time to the process.

The Portrait of a Graduate team was formed with approximately 20 team members from the stakeholder groups mentioned above. This group met in person in September and October over the course of three meetings and was also given some additional work outside of the meeting times. The focus of this team was to define an aspirational picture of a Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95 graduate in terms of characteristics and attributes, known as a Portrait of a Graduate. Each team member contributed approximately eight to ten hours of time to the process.

To assist in the entire Strategic Planning process, the district hired an outside lead facilitator, Dr. John Burkey, Executive Director of the Large Unit District Association for Illinois. Dr. Burkey has participated in many strategic planning initiatives and brought a valuable lens as well as expert facilitation skills to the process.

As an additional tool to help gather broader stakeholder feedback, the district licensed a tool called ThoughtExchange which not only has survey capabilities but also poses open-ended questions, allowing for broader feedback capabilities. Participants have the opportunity to share their own freeform thoughts, and the Exchange provides transparency into how others are thinking as respondents rate the thoughts of others. Allowing this open dialogue helps large groups of people understand how others are thinking and can foster a sense of trust through transparency in the process. Engagement levels are analyzed both through the level of commenting and through the rating of other people’s thoughts; a rating exchange ratio of 20-30 and above indicates a high level of engagement. The district launched two Exchanges to assist the teams with broader community feedback; both Exchanges had high levels of community engagement with rating exchange ratios of 32 and 33.

For more information about the work of the Strategic Planning and Portrait of a Graduate teams, please click on the links below to see the comprehensive report to the Board of Education on March 23, 2023:

Click here for the comprehensive Strategic Planning report to the Board of Education

Click here for the branded Strategic Plan, Empower 95, as presented to the Board of Education