Community Values Eyed in Warren Schools Study

Wednesday's public input session for the Warren Township schools strategic plan posed a seemingly simple question: what does the community value here?

That question by program leader Carol Moldan was at the heart of the night's session at Warren Middle School, which included about 40 residents participating in a table-hopping brainstorm session working to get a clearly defined brand for Warren schools.

Moldan and fellow "recovering school superintendent" Charles Kuzminski led the participants in the program, using techniques aimed at helping the participants develop focused answers to such questions as;

• What do you value in Warren Township schools?
• What do we need to consider changing in our schools?
• What should we include in the Warren Township schools brand?

The first task for the participants was to think of words that describe the district ("Blue Ribbon school district," "Meeting individual needs of students," "Productive partnerships," "Wanting excellence," "You're in good hands," and "personal success" were cited), which formed the first talking points for the group.

The district launched the strategic planning process in September, and at the beginning of October, included about 400 district employees participating in a similar program. From here, the collected ideas will be collated by a 25-member steering committee of residents, school administrators and employees, which will develop a guiding document to present to the public sometime in May or June.