Strategic Planning
To ensure that all our students receive an exceptional, inclusive, and equitable education, South San Francisco Unified School District (SSFUSD) has been engaging with students, alumni, staff, families, and community members throughout the 2022-23 school year to find out what SSFUSD students need to know to be successful after high school.
This process of long-term planning happens every five to seven years and requires the support and engagement of the SSFUSD community, so that we can create a strategic plan that determines what resources are needed to help our students thrive.
By June 2023, SSFUSD will:
- Create a new “Portrait of a Graduate";
- Refresh our mission statement; and
- Start a new strategic planning process to match that vision.
Get involved and help shape a new vision for SSFUSD!
Once this next round of feedback has been gathered, the district's visioning working group will update the Portrait of a Graduate and produce an updated mission statement to align with our new vision for SSFUSD graduates.
The school board will then vote to approve the Portrait of a Graduate and a new mission statement by the end of the year.
Then we’ll use this new vision and mission to kick off a new strategic planning process to map out what we need to prioritize and do over the next 3-5 years to make sure our students are prepared to thrive.
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Engaging the Community
Initial Survey. From November 1 through December 11, 2022, SSFUSD distributed a bilingual survey to allow community members to share their thoughts and ideas. More than 3,700 responses from families, employees, community members, and alums (including 1,400 from current students) were received.
Outreach. To boost survey participation, SSFUSD sent paper fliers home with students, posted reminders on district social media, sent e-mails to families and employees, texted multiple reminders to families, made targeted phone calls, and talked to families at drop-off and pick-up locations. The leaflets, materials, and phone calls were in English and Spanish, and we targeted additional outreach to our Title I schools to ensure that the most marginalized school communities were engaged in the process.
Meetings and interviews. We also wanted to talk directly with students, families, employees, and community members. As of December 5, 2022, SSFUSD had discussed strategic planning in more than 26 meetings or focus groups and conducted 12 one-on-one interviews. These included school-level meetings (e.g., PTA, school site council, ELAC, students) as well as district-level meetings.
Visioning Working Group. SSFUSD invited community members to nominate themselves or someone else to join a visioning working group. More than 60 individuals representing a diverse and representative group of 21 community members volunteered. The group represents every school in the district and includes parents, employees (certificated, classified, and admin), alumni, community members, and partners. Sixteen identify as people of color, 16 are currently parents, 11 are SSFUSD alumni. The visioning working group will guide our efforts to listen and engage with our community, reflect on the community’s ideas and feedback, and develop the Portrait of a Graduate and a refreshed mission statement based on the guidance of our community.
Working with the right partners. SSFUSD engaged Attuned Partners to help facilitate the visioning and strategic planning process. They have worked with many other school systems on similar processes. SSFUSD also partnered with the Bay Ed Fund, which plans to invest in SSFUSD over the next 10 years.
Goals
New vision, mission & plan. Create a vision and strategic plan that reflect our school community’s values and beliefs, and that provide clarity and focus for our work together for the next five years.Inclusive, equity-centered process. Design a process that represents a deep commitment to engaging all members of our SSFUSD community, especially those who have historically been underrepresented.
Shared ownership. If our new vision and plan are developed by and with our diverse community members, we will all feel responsible and committed to making it come to life.
