Great Schools, Together
December 7, 2007 – 9:53 am
I’ve been brought on board to assist with a long-range planning process of the Unit 4 School District here in Champaign, Illinois. Kristine Chalifoux and Greg Novak are the Unit 4 Board members who conceived of and are overseeing this process. The Board established a Vision Committee, and the individuals on this committee will appoint Working Groups. The Working Groups will put together a plan, based on input that they receive from the community; with the Vision Committee offering their expertise and feedback.
In light of some tensions that exist between the community and schools, the goal of this planning process is to involve as many community members as possible. The heart of the community outreach will be at least ten interactive community forums where 200 to 300 participants can join smaller facilitated groups to share their ideas about what they feel the plan needs to include to best support all Unit 4 students.
Stig Lanesskog, a community member, former Strategic Planning consultant, and the Assistant Provost at the University of Illinois, is the lead facilitator for the Vision Committee meetings; and I will be the lead facilitator for the community forums. He and I will also be sharing facilitation for the working groups. We have quickly developed a easy working partnership; and have been offering our expertise to each other for the development of agendas and materials for meetings.
We had our first Vision Committee meeting on November 28, 2007. The turn-out was great. Committee members were welcomed by Dr. Linda Katehi, the Provost of the Champaign/Urbana campus of the University of Illinois, and David Tomlinson, the Unit 4 Board Education President. Stig Lanesskog then went over the ground rules:
- Actively participate
- Use facts to inform the decision making process
- Consider what is best for the entire community
- Be respectful and thoughtfully consider others’ opinions
- Be time sensitive - allow time for all to participate, and
- Keep yourself updated on the developments of this process.
And the group began the visioning process. They had homework to do by the end of the meeting! One piece is to identify names of individuals for the Working Groups. Any community member can self nominate for this “roll-up your sleeves” group that is going to be working very hard to synthesize all of the community recommendations into a viable plan that will serve all the students in the Unit 4 District for years to come. City of Champaign Planning Director Bruce Knight was elected to be the Committee Chair.
The next Vision Committee meeting is being held at the Parkland Community College campus on December 12, 2007 from 7 to 9 p.m. Anyone is welcome to attend these meetings; though there will be no room in the agenda for public commentary. The focus of these meetings is for the Vision Committee to create a framework for the process. The community forums will be the place for community members to offer their input - including any feedback they have on the Vision Committee’s framework.