I am excited to announce that the Bethlehem Township School District will be participating in the strategic planning process over the next several months. It will be led by Gwen Thornton, the representative from the NJ School Boards Association (NJSBA). The purpose of this process is to establish the goals for our district for the next 3 to 5 years. It allows every stakeholder (students, parents, community members, staff, administration and Board of Education members) to collaborate, provide their input, and be a part of the direction in which our district will move over the next several years.

I have been a part of this process as a teacher and as an administrator in all of my previous districts and have always found the process to be engaging, informative, and very rewarding. It is a great way to have your voices heard and to be able to listen to others' thoughts and ideas about our school district. Besides being a great experience for all involved, this plan will truly drive the decisions that are made at the Board and administrative level with regard to things such as curriculum, technology, social emotional health, staffing, programming, etc. This plan will drive future district goals, administrative goals, and teacher's goals & professional development plans.

Having only been in the district for four months, personally this process is going to help me hear from all of you about the areas in which you see our district succeeding as well as those areas for growth. The great thing about this process is that you can be as involved as you would like. You can attend one meeting, two meetings or all three, depending on your personal schedules. We do ask that all individuals that would like to attend to please RSVP for each session that they will be in attendance. This will allow us to be prepared for those that are there. See below to RSVP for each meeting.

I hope that many of you will get involved and take part in this really valuable process. One that will truly change the direction of our district and impact all of our students!!

Sincerely,

Ed Abato

Chief School Administrator

March 21, 2023:

First Meeting - "Determination" (6:30-8:30 PM)

• Strengths
• Accomplishments
• Challenges

April 19, 2023:

Second Meeting - "Dare to Dream" (6:30-8:00 PM)

• Vision
• Expectations for the Future

May 25, 2023:

Third Meeting - "Destiny by Design" (6:30-8:00 PM)

• Goal Statements
• Related Objectives

Due to the demands of the current educational climate and the implementation of the NJ Student Learning Standards (NJSLS), NJ Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA), revised teacher and principal evaluation process, Boards of Education are scheduling less time-intensive workshops and other activities. The 3 to 5 year 3D strategic planning model provides a more streamlined strategic approach while retaining the key components of staff and community input, visioning, and goal setting. It is performance driven from inception but permits administration to develop the action plans, a key function in the goal setting process. This model represents the best practice of the community developing the “what” and administration taking responsibility for the “how.” It combines all of the essential features of strategic planning in a more concise format.

After each meeting, Ms. Thornton, will prepare outcomes of the meeting for posting to the district's website. She will prepare the composite report once the process is completed. At that point the district administrative team will work collaboratively to prepare the action plans based on the developed goals, objectives, and strategies. Action plans, after completion by the administration, will be presented to the Board of Education and will be posted on the district's webpage. There are no requirements for participants to attend all meetings as the outcome of each meeting will be posted for everyone to read. The time frame for completion of this entire process is 4-5 months, generally.