Hardin County Schools Superintendent Teresa Morgan presented the district’s three-year strategic plan last month to the Hardin County Board of Education at a board meeting, finalizing a plan after nearly a year of meetings with district administrators, classified staff, certified staff, parent groups, students and community members.
The process was facilitated by Studer Education, the district’s partner in the initiative.
Nearly 1,000 staff members and community members provided feedback to Hardin County Schools through focus group meetings and surveys. The input helped guide the plan’s direction.
“I am excited about the opportunities for success that are before us,” Morgan said in a district news release. “This strategic plan gives us a solid road map in planning the future for our county’s students. Our community does an excellent job in supporting our students and staff. Therefore, we have a duty to provide a clear vision of our success stories, our opportunities for growth and the steps we will take to achieve our goals. This plan will help us assist students to become productive citizens and leaders in our county, state, region, country and world.
“We are grateful to our stakeholders for participating in this process,” she said. “We also appreciate the great deal of patience our staff members exhibited while the plan was assembled.”
Morgan said the strategic plan will be reviewed and updated a minimum of four times per year.
“When a goal has been accomplished, we will celebrate that success,” she said. “We’ll then set new goals that represent student needs at that time. We always want to remain focused on student growth and student success. We realize new technology, job opportunities and community needs will continue to change and we must utilize the most effective strategies to meet those challenges.
“We are dedicated to meeting the needs of our students and our community,” she continued. “Hardin County Schools is a successful district because of our community partners and our dedicated staff are committed to doing what is best for our students.”
A summary of the surveys and community forums findings include:
• Student focus – a belief student needs are put first
• Dedicated teachers and staff – a belief people care
• Focus on more than college-prep – a belief students must be life-, career and college-ready
• Multiple opportunities for students to learn and be successful
• Strong communication – particularly with One-Call and social media.
Opportunities for improvement / challenges to address
• Increasing student engagement and ownership in learning, behavior and accountability
Ways to address increasing student mental health challenges and behaviors (awareness and assistance)
• Employee retention, engagement and recognition
• Helping parents be more engaged and involved in student’s learning and school activities
• Increasing consistency of messaging between schools and uniform messaging to families across the district
• More efficient use of resources for identified priorities and heightened efficiency of processes within the district.
Most important things students should know and do upon graduation
• Life Skills – understanding personal finances, students living on their own independently and successfully, communicate effectively (face-to-face, written communication using more than social media), work well with others, problem solve
• Have a work ethic, be self-motivated
• Basic skills of reading, writing and math.
• Caring and supportive
• Safe – both physically and emotionally
• Ensuring student success
• Increasing graduation rate
• Increasing matriculation for two- and four-year colleges, military, direct to trade/work
• Stronger measures of parent involvement.
Four commitments will help the school district meet its desired goals. Each item has key strategic actions and measurable goals.
The four commitments are:
• All students will learn in a safe and engaging environment and graduate career and college ready.
• All employees will be engaged and valued.
• All parents and community partners will be engaged and valued.
• As stewards of the community’s resources, all district and school processes and operations will be effective and efficient.
The report to the board is under the Quick Links tab on the HCS website, hardin.kyschools.us. It is titled HCS Strategic Plan 2020-2023.