COMMENTARY

Planning effort for KC schools deserves support

The easy thing would be cynicism.

To recite the familiar potshots at the Kansas City School District and its latest effort to self-assess and plan a future.

This week, six board-selected community leaders and two district officials are at the egghead-sounding Strategic Planning Internal Facilitator Training Program in Arlington, Va.

For $2,195 per person plus travel costs, this steering committee is expected to gather the skills necessary to head up a three- to five-year strategic plan for the district.

Yes, that’s an expensive prep course.

Yes, the district has trod similar paths before. Other cadres of community and school officials have been tasked with putting a hyper-focus on the district.

They deserve our thanks, by the way.

Like many before, these sessions will no doubt drone on for hours, as the perceptions and ideas of parents and area civic leaders will be heard and recorded. Binders will be filled with reports. Bags will be filled with binders.

But remember that even as some problems never seem to go away, these folks are not grappling with a static district. Every new school year is different, and you might go further and say so is every day. Just as the faces of the children change, so do the challenges of meeting their needs in a fast-evolving world.

No institution can find its way without regular checks to track progress, new goals and plans for reaching those goals. Tight budget issues will continue to challenge the district. At about 16,800 students, the district’s enrollment continues to shrink. And if it does not continue to improve student achievement, the district could face state takeover or other dramatic shifts in how it does business.

The daily challenges of urban education systems are not necessarily “solved.” Instead, they must be met, again and again, with new approaches and sustained efforts to find what works now.

The community member names on the steering committee include people who have long been active with, not simply critical of, the district: Ajamu Webster, Adriana Pecina, Patricia L. Mansur, Mary Ellen DeCoursey, Charles Caisley and Gwen Grant. They are volunteering their time.

So I’d quibble with only one qualification the district cited in announcing the steering committee: “Availability of time to meet throughout the planning process.” All are extremely busy people, the sort of folks you marvel at how they pack so much into every day as mothers and fathers, in philanthropic endeavors, as business owners and civic leaders.

The fact that they care enough to do this for the district is encouraging. As they begin their work, they deserve our applause.

To reach Mary Sanchez, call 816-234-4752 or send e-mail to msanchez@kcstar.com.

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