Strategic Plan
Update, Summer 2024: As we enter year two of the implementation of the Sweet Home Strategic Plan, we must pause to celebrate the success of year one. Year one was identified as a year of auditing much of the work across the district to determine best practices for all of our programming at Sweet Home. Moving forward, we are now ready to fully implement our comprehensive Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) plan designed to improve academic outcomes in literacy and mathematics, as well as support our students' social and emotional needs. While goal three, the Whole Child, is directly tied to MTSS, you will see evidence of its importance in all areas of the plan. As we deepen our support for students, we will strengthen the connections between the Strategic Plan and our focus on DEI so we continue to lift all voices across the district.
A message from Superintendent Dr. Michael V. Ginestre, August 2023
Too often, we believe school districts are slow to change and adjust to a rapidly evolving landscape. While we never want to experience a pandemic again, there are lessons to be learned from that time.
One critical lesson is that school districts can change at a moment’s notice and deliver instruction and support by any means necessary to meet the needs of our students. As we continue to witness changes in technology, engineering, workforce development, and how we learn, the Sweet Home Central School district is strengthening its efforts to adapt and adjust to change. Hence, our students are best prepared to live and thrive in our society.
For us, it starts with the Sweet Home Central School District Strategic Plan. This plan will be our guidebook for ensuring that Sweet Home is strong and well-positioned to prepare our students for a future where their career most likely doesn’t even exist.
Everyone in our community had a chance to participate, and thousands have, to build a plan specifically tailored to Sweet Home but designed to future-proof our students for the challenges ahead once they become alumni. Using the Thought Exchange platform, the district collected feedback from all stakeholder groups on the following questions: “What are the most important skills and experiences we can provide our Sweet Home students to prepare them for success in learning and life? What are we doing well, and what can we do differently?” The district is so grateful to our community for their response. Through the use of Thought Exchange, there were 1,308 participants, 1,034 thoughts, and 29,308 ratings, one of the best responses shared by partners in this work with Erie 1 BOCES. From the Thought Exchange data, three categories arose as critically important to the Sweet Home community: teaching & learning, future-focused and whole child. These three categories were used to develop goals for elementary (Pre-K to grade 5) and secondary (grade 6 to 12).
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Subcommittee on Teaching and Learning was composed of a team of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and a school board member. The DEI Subcommittee on Teaching and Learning developed the portrait of a Sweet Home graduate (outlined on page 10), during which the characteristics and dispositions were identified. The portrait of a Sweet Home graduate remained the center of the work as the committee unpacked data on district demographics, course offerings, activities such as sports and clubs, career and technical education, participation, and performance after graduation at the college level.
We work extremely hard to meet our mission as a district, and we are highly confident that our living and breathing Strategic Plan will be our guidebook to prepare our students for an ever-evolving, rapidly-changing landscape. “Every Student, One Community, Ready for the Future” will continue to be our measuring stick for success with our Strategic Plan and with all district initiatives.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael V. Ginestre
Superintendent of Schools