Kettering schools has a new idea for helping students follow passions as part of new 6-year plan

“We presented the draft of our strategic plan to the Board,” she explained. “We have been engaged in a strategic planning process with members of the community, parents and staff serving on various committees for about a year.”

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The five goals stated in the plan are:

• Global Citizen: Increase access to broader learning experiences for students by 2024

• Engaged Collaborator: Increase students’ and teachers’ perceptions of organizational culture

• Critical Thinker: Increase student skills in critical thinking by engaging in learning tasks when executing project-based learning)

• Lifelong Learner: Build, maintain, and apply running records of all students’ interests and passions for inclusion into regular capstone projects by 2023

• Communicator: Communication is the basis for relationships, testing and strengthening our thinking, and pursuing opportunities

“The document and plan that we presented to the Board of Education is the culmination of more than a year of work by the Strategic Planning Committee. We have finished this first phase of the strategic planning process and are excited to move forward and to begin sharing this plan with our stakeholders,” said Scott Inskeep, superintendent of the Kettering Schools.

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He added that the plan is designed to be a “living” document that can be adapted and changed as needed.

“The goals will stand as a foundation through time, but there should be updates, as needed, so that the plan remains relevant,” Inskeep said. “This plan was developed so that it can withstand leadership changes and still remain effective. It cannot just sit on a shelf, but instead, needs to be a vibrant blueprint for assuring a superior educational learning experience for every student who comes through our doors for years to come.”

There are 12 public schools in Kettering and the plan reveals that the average teacher in the district has 17 years of experience, while the total enrollment of pre-school through 12th grade is 7,694 and 75 percent of teachers have a master’s degree or better. The district is also one of the city’s top five employers with more than 1,000 full and part-time employees according to the plan.