Strategic Planning Process for the School District of Collier County, Florida

Collaborative teamed up the Education Foundation of Collier County (EFCC) to assist the district in developing and implementing its strategic plan. Two phases of work were identified for this 10-month project: Developing a vision and mission document and building operational plans.

In phase one, Collaborative worked with the superintendent, his cabinet, board members, and a strategic planning team of community stakeholders. With each of these groups, Collaborative did the following:

• Facilitated discussions to identify the vision, mission and values for the school district
• Synthesized notes and shared them will all groups to make sure everyone knew what each team was considering
• Developed draft vision document, which was revised several times based on the feedback from each of the groups

In phase two, Collaborative and the EFCC worked with the superintendent to select members for eight operational teams. Each team consisted of a combination of internal and external members, including district staff, principals, teachers and community members. With guidance from Collaborative these teams did the following:

• Developed an overall goal for their operational area
• Created objectives, indicators and strategies for this goal
• Considered implications of these efforts

During these efforts, EFCC conducted focus groups and outreach throughout the community to gain feedback about the draft document, operational team work and the overall process. This comprehensive engagement allowed the community to remain involved throughout the process.