Fairview Park residents help school district decide its future

  • 2015-09-26
About 75 members of the Fairview Park community met with Fairview Park school officials on August 24 to help set the future course of the district.

The meeting was held to allow residents to have input in to the strategic discussions at the district level.

The meeting was facilitated by Steve Harris, who is president of The People Advantage, a consulting firm. He described the results of a community survey carried out in July.

The meeting was the first of two that are planned for Fairview, in what is termed the “listening phase” of the process of strategic planning. The goal is to have a plan finalized by January 1.

Dr. Bill Wagner, superintendent, said the district would spend the rest of 2015 making plans, testing to see if those plans can be met, listening to guidance, and trying to align as closely as possible with the will of parents and residents.

Survey respondents feel the top five areas the district should address are readiness for career and college, academic achievement, music and the arts, technology, and social responsibility. The main finding was that the community wants teachers to teach children how to learn, not how to take tests.

District officials could work with a flyer printing company to create a mailer for school district residents describing the process and urging them to take part.