ML School District to sponsor community forum to review strategic plan

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake School District patrons, staff and students will be invited to review a draft of the district’s new strategic plan. The date of the community forum will be announced.

District superintendent Monty Sabin said during Thursday’s meeting of the Moses Lake School Board that the project has attracted a lot of interest.

“There’s a lot of people that wanted to be on the committee that we just didn’t have space for. We have 72 members, and we had to say no to some people,” he said. “But we will have a community forum where people can see the draft plan before we present it. We’ll be able to have some discussion, get some input.”

District officials also plan to conduct community, staff and student surveys once there’s a draft plan, he said. The draft is scheduled to be presented to the school board before the end of the school year.

“We are on track to have the recommendation to the board in May,” Sabin said.

The committee writing the strategic plan has met four times, Sabin said, and its members have been talking about what kind of education Moses Lake students should receive.

“When a student leaves Moses Lake School District, what are those essential qualities we want them to possess?” Sabin said.

With that established, the planning committee has five goals to get students there, and some criteria for each goal, Sabin said.

The process attracted people from throughout the community.

“We’ve had broad representation. Besides the various staff members that we’ve had, we have business people, parents, students - we have someone from the city, from Big Bend Community College, from the economic development council, the Chamber of Commerce,” Sabin said. “A lot of different people are contributing.”

The planning process has attracted a number of students, which Sabin said is encouraging.

“It’s a real positive, the number of students that we have,” he said. “They have a lot of good ideas.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at [email protected].