COVENTRY PUBLIC SCHOOLS ADOPTS A NEW STRATEGIC PLAN By AUDREY BUFFI

On February 12th, members from Coventry Public Schools presented the details of a strategic plan for the district - a process which has been ongoing since the spring of 2017. The strategic plan is a three-year framework for the school district which members of the community worked together to develop. Over 40 participants, including parents, teachers, principals, students, and staff exchanged ideas and feedback. Those ideas were drafted into a comprehensive plan by members of the Center for Leadership and Educational Equity.
According to Craig Levis, superintendent of Coventry schools, the plan “isn’t meant to be a linear rulebook”, but rather “a guide to shape the curriculum for the future.”

COVENTRY PUBLIC SCHOOLS ADOPTS A NEW STRATEGIC PLAN

By AUDREY BUFFI

On February 12th, members from Coventry Public Schools presented the details of a strategic plan for the district – a process which has been ongoing since the spring of 2017.

The strategic plan is a three-year framework for the school district which members of the community worked together to develop.  Over 40 participants, including parents, teachers, principals, students, and staff exchanged ideas and feedback.  Those ideas were drafted into a comprehensive plan by members of the Center for Leadership and Educational Equity.

According to Craig Levis, superintendent of Coventry schools, the plan “isn’t meant to be a linear rulebook”, but rather “a guide to shape the curriculum for the future.”

As it’s structured, the strategic plan contains five major subcategories, known as strategic areas, each with a separate set of goals.  These include (1) curriculum instruction and assessment, (2) early learning, (3) professional development, (4) community partnerships, and (5) finance and facilities.

The strategic area most pertinent to the students of Coventry High School is curriculum instruction and assessment.  More specifically, this area involves establishing “rigorous, personalized, innovative pathways for each student.”

In other terms, the goal is to further help students learn about what interests them for post-secondary options in order to become successful graduates.  Some implications of this goal include bringing more diverse AP classes to the high school, as was implemented this school year with the addition of AP Music Theory, AP U.S. Government & Politics, and various other AP courses, including world languages.

Likewise, another goal of the strategic area is to increase world language opportunities by developing a more extensive language program at the middle school level.

However, not only does the strategic plan discuss the curriculum, but it also refers to the school buildings themselves, as the finance and facilities portion of the plan addresses.  Ideally, with the right funding, the district would update the physical makeup of buildings to support Coventry’s growing use of technology.

As a solution for ensuring that the town has enough funding to bring about these changes for further developing a plan for the district, social studies teacher and union president Kelly Erinakes suggests working backward, by creating a “5-year budget plan with the Town Council and taxpayers . . . then the planning committee would know exactly” the resources within their disposal.

Erinakes has been a teacher in the district for 23 years and the union president for 16 years.  She reports noticing within the past ten years that a disproportionate amount of effort has been placed on teaching subjects directly related to state testing.

However, Erinakes remains excited and optimistic about creating more well-developed curriculum for all content areas.

“We need to prepare our students to be successful mathematicians, engineers, civic leaders, personal trainers, auto mechanics, artists, writers, language translators, landscape architects, and a host of other careers that individual students are impassioned about.”