BRUNSWICK

The Brunswick School Board will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at Town Hall to discuss Brunswick Believes — a strategic framework that will guide district-wide improvements over the next five years.

Established by educators and administrators, the “living document” will be reviewed each year during the summer to determine strengths, as well as areas that may need revision.

Three core values established in the framework are student success, professional excellence and community connections.

The process began with strategic planning workshops that included school board, staff and community members, guided by Good Group Decisions between September 2015 and March 2016.

It continued from there with student meetings, and written and online surveys from students grades 6 through 12, staff and members of the community.

Data was then analyzed and determinations made on how to best serve the district’s 2,330 students, 370 staff and eight collective properties.

Included in the framework is strengthened early childhood education, preparing students with real world readiness and socially supporting students while fostering independence.

For staff, the district seeks to recruit and retain exemplary educators, maintain a positive work environment and stress professional development.

The district also seeks to keep conversations open between the schools and the public, inspire leadership and fully utilize while being good stewards of school buildings and grounds.

Assistant Superintendent Pender Makin said the Brunswick Believes strategic framework reflects the community’s values and priorities for its schools and will serve as a guiding document for the district, school leaders, professional educators and staff in developing goals and plans.

“In a turbulent social/political climate that barrages public education with disconnected, often self-contradictory mandates, complex and questionable initiatives, and private interest driven requirements, our strategic framework will allow Brunswick to demonstrate true, values-based leadership,” Makin said.

“It will help us to filter and prioritize much of the externally driven business, to align our resources and efforts efficiently, and to focus deeply on what matters most to our students, staff, families and greater community.”

dmcintire@timesrecord.com

Brunswick Believes

• THREE CORE values established in the Brunswick Believes strategic framework are student success, professional excellence and community connections.

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