MONROE - The Monroe school district wants to hear a wide variety of voices as it sets goals for the next five years during an upcoming two-night community forum.
The first forum, hosted by the district, is slated for 5 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 8 in the library at Monroe High School. The second will be 5 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 6.
"We are trying to look at our values and goals so we can determine what our priorities are," Monroe District Administrator Rick Waski said. "We hope it (community forum) guides our programs and facility needs as we look forward."
Establishing long-term goals is nothing new for school districts. One area the district will look at this school year is a facility-needs study for each school building.
"We have set goals as a district before, but we haven't always reviewed them like we should," Waski said. "We want to set goals, and we will look at them and report and measure our progress each year for five years as we go along."
The district is making the community forums an open invitation. Sessions will be facilitated by Heather Fish, the school improvement services director for the Consolidated Educational Services Agency 5 in Portage.
"We think it's important to have an external facilitator," Waski said. "We want to make sure no one person's voice is dominating the forum. We want to get a broad perspective of what people want to see from their school district."
Once the two community forums are complete, Waski and district administrators will meet with the school board to establish a set of goals. A final document of proposed goals will have to be approved by the school board.
"We want to use this the next five years to measure how effective we are as a district," Waski said.
Community members who plan to attend are asked to RSVP by contacting Cindy Rupnow, the executive assistant to the superintendent and school board, at 608-328-7109 or by email at cindyrupnow@monroe.k12.wi.us.
"The one thing we ask is that participants attend both sessions," Waski said of the two-night forum. "If participants only attend the first one, the work will only be partially done."
The first forum, hosted by the district, is slated for 5 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 8 in the library at Monroe High School. The second will be 5 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 6.
"We are trying to look at our values and goals so we can determine what our priorities are," Monroe District Administrator Rick Waski said. "We hope it (community forum) guides our programs and facility needs as we look forward."
Establishing long-term goals is nothing new for school districts. One area the district will look at this school year is a facility-needs study for each school building.
"We have set goals as a district before, but we haven't always reviewed them like we should," Waski said. "We want to set goals, and we will look at them and report and measure our progress each year for five years as we go along."
The district is making the community forums an open invitation. Sessions will be facilitated by Heather Fish, the school improvement services director for the Consolidated Educational Services Agency 5 in Portage.
"We think it's important to have an external facilitator," Waski said. "We want to make sure no one person's voice is dominating the forum. We want to get a broad perspective of what people want to see from their school district."
Once the two community forums are complete, Waski and district administrators will meet with the school board to establish a set of goals. A final document of proposed goals will have to be approved by the school board.
"We want to use this the next five years to measure how effective we are as a district," Waski said.
Community members who plan to attend are asked to RSVP by contacting Cindy Rupnow, the executive assistant to the superintendent and school board, at 608-328-7109 or by email at cindyrupnow@monroe.k12.wi.us.
"The one thing we ask is that participants attend both sessions," Waski said of the two-night forum. "If participants only attend the first one, the work will only be partially done."