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Morganton, NC – Thursday, July 7, 2022
The Burke County Board of Education approved the district’s next five-year strategic plan on Monday, June 27. The plan has three main goals and will take effect for the 2022-2023 school year. In his message to the community regarding the plan, Superintendent Dr. Mike Swan said, “In 2017, Burke County Public Schools released its first strategic plan in recent memory. For five years, that plan has served us well. It centered around successful students and the support students need from teachers and the community to thrive. As year five of the plan approached, and it was time to review and renew our direction for another five years, we took not only a closer look at the 2017-2022 plan, but we also put it into context of how COVID-19 affected us.”
Swan explained the process in developing the new plan. He said, “We reached out to the community and employees for feedback on our past goals and to help give us a direction for new goals. Some of the goals in our previous plan we can proudly check off, including technology for all. We are now a one-to-one district, and COVID-19 helped accelerate that. Through COVID-19, we witnessed just how committed our teachers are and saw everyone go above and beyond to create healthy and safe learning environments for students.”
The district began its process for updating the plan in the summer of 2021. Community surveys went out in spring of 2022. Swan said, “While the survey results on our previous plan showed there is room for improvement with our goals, we heard loud and clear that we should shift our focus to our people – students, parents, faculty, staff and community members. Which brings us to our overarching, all-in promise to put people first. From there, we promise to provide academic opportunities for all, support all-around well-being and help connect all schools to the community. We thank you for your commitment to go alongside us on this journey and pledge to be all-in to help us continue to make Burke County Public Schools the best school district.”
Goal No. 1 in the plan is Academic Opportunities for All. It centers around the district’s efforts to support the growth of students, faculty/staff members and the community by providing learning opportunities for all. This includes individualized learning for students, recruitment and retention of staff and resources for parents/caregivers.
Goal No. 2 is All-around Well-being. It supports lifelong wellness practices to sustain healthy minds and bodies of students, faculty and staff. Objectives include maintaining safe school environments, providing mental and physical health services for students and staff and partnering with parents on safety protocols and current social issues.
Goal No. 3 is All Schools Connected to the Community. This goal will help the district strengthen its partnerships between the school system and the community by celebrating student achievement and enhancing internal and external communications.
All three goals will be measured using five key indicators. They are: academic growth, graduation rate, student attendance, staff retention and student enrollment.
Swan said, “By recruiting and retaining top-level staff, we can continue to grow students academically, get them to enroll in our schools, keep them in school and get them to graduate; therefore, meeting and exceeding our goals.”
The plan includes a “Why” statement: Burke County Public Schools’ All-in Promise cultivates genuine relationships between students, staff, parents/caregivers, and the community. Our All-in Promise is to recognize the contributions of all, implement exemplary learning opportunities for all, support well-being for all, and strengthen all school and community partnerships.
A belief statement: At Burke County Public Schools, we believe all students have a bright future and will make positive contributions to the community throughout their career journeys. While each student’s path is unique, it is our responsibility to equip them with the educational tools they need to make their dreams come true. The Burke County Public Schools’ All-in Promise is our commitment to all students to continuously improve school experiences by putting people first, offering academic opportunities for all, supporting all-around wellbeing and connecting all schools to the community. Thank you for partnering with us for the successful future of Burke County.
And a new mission and vision statement:
Our Mission: Burke County Public Schools will educate all learners, nurture their potential and empower them to be contributing members of our community.
Our Vision: Burke County Public Schools will be a model of exemplary education by inspiring all students to be life-long learners who will contribute to our community.
Dr. Swan said, “I am excited to roll out this new district strategic plan for the upcoming academic year. Our three main goals are simple, yet impactful and help us focus on our priorities and purpose.”
View the full plan here:
https://bit.ly/BCPSStrategicPlan23-28
Read Dr. Swan’s
Letter to the Community