Focus Group Meetings Underway for Ferndale Schools Strategic Plan

Local residents are invited to get involved as Ferndale Public Schools moves forward with formulating a five-year strategic plan for the district.

A series of focus group meetings are being held as part of the strategic planning process, which is being led by consulting firm Project Innovations.

One meeting was held on Monday involving executive committee leaders of Ferndale political action committees Citizens for Better Education and CLEAR.

The next focus group is being held from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15 with parents who have enrolled their children in schools outside of the Ferndale district. The meeting is open to all and will be moderated by strategic planning consultant Charlie Fleetham, president of Project Innovations.

Ferndale Schools community relations director Stephanie Hall said the process is "designed to provide an open forum for participants to express their views."

Only Fleetham and the participants will be present at the meeting; school board members and administrators will not be in attendance, she said. Additional meetings will be announced soon.

For more information or to RSVP for Friday's meeting, call 248-586-8651.

The strategic planning process was approved by the school board last fall and is expected to be completed in June.

Ferndale School Board vice president Karen Twomey, chair of the Strategic Planning Ad Hoc Steering Committee, recently wrote the following letter about the process:

Embracing Each
Advancing All

As the chair of the Board’s newly formed Strategic Planning ad hoc committee, I want to take a moment to share with our school community what you can expect from this exciting process our district has begun.

Our goal is to develop a plan designed to strengthen and sustain the district in the years ahead, including district mission and goals, use of resources, and addressing challenges that face the Ferndale Schools.

The committee is comprised of fellow Board member Kevin Deegan-Krause, Superintendent Gary Meier, Deputy Superintendent Henry Gold, Director of Community Relations and Strategic Plan Project Manager Stephanie Hall, Project Innovations consultant Charles Fleetham, and me.

This is a team that has been assembled not just for our titles, but because of the breadth and depth of knowledge and skills each member will bring to the table. That said, our team is aware that the project is not about us, it is about you. We will be meeting bi- weekly to coordinate the scheduling of community activities such as focus groups, surveys, and the larger community-wide events of the Champion Process.

Our goal is to make as many people as possible feel connected to the process of determining the future directions of our district. The strength and success of this project is in what each of you will bring to it.

To our future,

Karen Twomey

Chair, Strategic Planning Ad Hoc Steering Committee

Vice President, Ferndale Schools Board of Education