The township school district is developing a strategic plan to maintain a high level of education and services, and earlier this year, the community took part in interactive input sessions to help form that plan.
Dr. Tracey Severns, an educational consultant with Teach4Results, led the sessions, and participants worked in teams to identify the district’s strengths and steps for continued success.
“Every voice is heard, and every viewpoint is acknowledged and used to form the plan,” she said. “Our sessions ensure 100% participation in a process that offers 100% transparency.”
While the district passed a bond referendum last year to improve and expand schools, the strategic plan seeks to build on that momentum by setting goals to guide the district over the next three years in the areas of academic programs, curriculum, community engagement and technology.
It’s the first time the district has worked on such a plan since 2019, and Severns guided students and teachers in the April sessions.
“Communication is very important to the district, as well as maintaining our excellence despite changes in the world and in our town,” noted school Superintendent Dr. Courtney McNeely. “We also have been talking about what technology will look like in the future for us, whether it’s the use of AI or how our program of studies will answer the need to have graduates who are ready for a changing world.”
The district, according to McNeely, is also working on a graduate profile that answers this question: What does it mean to graduate from Moorestown and what sets its schools apart from other towns? The district is also focusing on its partnership with the community.
“We got such great momentum during the (bond) referendum,” McNeely explained, “and just knowing that the community was behind us and gave us a resounding push to continue the excellence that we have … We don’t want to lose that.”
The strategic plan, McNeely added, will certainly include information about how the district can continue to improve communication with the community. Residents are encouraged to share their input online by answering questions that differ from those asked in the in-person sessions.
To take the online survey, visit https://sites.google.com/mtps.us/strategic-plan/home. All feedback will be reviewed, analyzed and organized into a strategic plan for the board of education to approve in June so the district can begin implementing it in September.
During Severns’ work with the community, she asked members to isolate truth trends and unique ideas. That rings true through the entire process of strategic planning, she pointed out, and the common threads produced by the community, its students and the board are translated into attainable goals.
“Additionally, it takes a special skill to ensure that there’s measurable objectives and milestones along the way, so that we can report to the community what’s working,” McNeely stated. “What I specifically love about strategic planning – as someone who is new to the district – is that I can always point back to it. I can always say that these are the goals that we worked on with our community.
“This was everybody’s input saying, ‘Here’s how we’re moving.’ We can keep going back to accountability pieces that hold me and our teams accountable for making sure that those goals become realized.”
Students and teachers contributed their ideas for maintaining the high quality of Moorestown schools.
