Looking ahead to 2016 in Whitefish schools

Looking ahead to 2016 provides an opportunity to reflect on what we do in Whitefish Schools.

Coming together as a community to review and revise our strategic goals, identify how we will measure our success, and determine the strategies and activities we will undertake on our journey of continuous improvement will be essential in the next few months.

We know Whitefish public schools relies on the support of our community, has exceptional teachers, support staff and administrators, and students who demand to be challenged. How do we ensure all of our students are prepared?

What skills, knowledge and dispositions are needed for high school graduates in 2016 and beyond?

Many of our children will experience jobs and careers that we’ve never heard of so we must ask ourselves how to most effectively prepare them for the world and life ahead of them.

Regardless of student choices after high school our graduates will need to participate in post-secondary training and/or education and be prepared for the workplace. Recent graduates of Whitefish Schools shared with us areas where Whitefish Schools prepared them for life beyond high school and where we can improve.

International mindedness, global thinking, the ability to communicate in an additional language, and technical writing are all areas recent graduates thought we could improve.These will be important elements of our strategic planning process.

Additional projects we will continue to focus on in the coming months include:

• The Center for Sustainable Energy, Agriculture and Entrepreneurship – the instructional design serves as the driving force behind the facility that we are currently designing.

• The Center for Applied Media, Arts and Sciences – reviewing and refining the instructional design, including identifying what it is we already have in place and determining the next right step for expanding opportunities for our students to learn.

• Muldown Project Task Force – this group that includes teachers, parents, community members, support staff, administrators and trustees will undertake a comprehensive facilities planning process for Muldown, beginning with a demographic study.

• Communications and technology planning – creating ways to effectively communicate with the Whitefish community, parents and families, and the staff is critical. A redesigned website with social media integration and an external audit of our technology systems are underway.

• Policy and procedure – a thorough review and revision of Board policy is underway and a complete re-adoption of Board policy is planned in 2016. Administrative procedures will also be created to ensure consistent day-to-day implementation of Board policies.

We look forward to working with you in 2016 and thank you for all you do to make Whitefish Schools a learning community of excellence!

You can reach me at the district office at (406) 862-8640 or davisschmidth@whitefishschools.org.

— Heather Davis Schmidt is superintendent of Whitefish schools