Roxbury Public School’s
Strategic Plan
2006/2007
I. Social/Emotional
Focus: To enhance social/emotional growth of students.
Objective 1: To place a full-time Guidance Counselor at each elementary school and maintain and/or increase the number of counselors at the Lincoln/Roosevelt School, Eisenhower Middle School, and the Roxbury High School.
A. Assess current district staffing and determine recommended ratio of counselors-to-students by state and national counseling organizations.
B. Determine timetable for meeting the goal.
Objective II: To expand and enhance the PreK-12 Guidance and Counseling Program (GCP) where students become more cognizant of their own behavior, its effect on their development, and its effect on those around them.
A. Identify existing staff activities and programs that support the academic development area of the Guidance and Counseling Curriculum (GCC).
B. Publish, attach, and distribute the identified activities and programs list as an addendum to the GCC as a reference tool.
C. Identify existing transitional programs and activities between grades 4-5, 6-7, and 8-9.
D. Provide methods to communicate guidance and counseling information district-wide.
E. Identify activities, clubs, and events that explore various careers at all levels, including trade, professional, academic, etc.
F. Identify existing programs and activities that explore and support personal and social goals.
G. Analyze list to determine areas of success and areas of need in comparison to the GCC.
Objective III: To create a physically and emotionally safe learning environment in which all students behave in ways that contribute to that safe, secure environment.
A. Assess student Codes of Conduct for the K-4 schools, Lincoln/Roosevelt School, Eisenhower Middle School, and Roxbury High School to ensure alignment with district policy and submit recommendations for improvement.
B. Revise Codes of Conduct, as necessary, based upon recommendations.
Objective IV: To develop awareness and understanding of community service through varied age-appropriate experiential activities.
A. Identify existing activities and programs currently in place in each building that promotes community service.
B. Explore additional activities to promote community service.
II. Communication
Focus: Improve communication.
Objective I: Improve public relations by increasing awareness of activities and achievements within the Roxbury School District.
A. Increase voter awareness of issues through a variety of media.
B. Increase public awareness of student, faculty, and district successes and achievements in all domains, e.g., academic, athletic, and artistic.
C. Increase publicity of upcoming events/district activities.
Objective II: Strengthen the collaboration between the school district and the community at large in Roxbury.
A. Establish a policy on flyer distribution within the school district from internal and external constituents.
Objective III: Encourage greater interaction between the home and the school in the Roxbury School District.
A. Promote the use of e-mail for communication at the district, school, classroom, and individual family levels.
Objective IV: Enhance inter and intra-school communication in the Roxbury School District.
A. Establish written procedures to document the flow of information in the building.
B. Establish a simple and frequent means of two-way communication to the district, school, administration, and faculty.
III. Student Achievement
Focus: Improve student achievement.
Objective I: Prepare every student to pass the necessary local, state, and federal mandated testing.
A. Revise the district’s curriculum development process.
1. Implement a curriculum Mapping procedure for each major subject area.
2. Investigate current research in the content areas, NJCCCS, and district priorities to assess Roxbury’s status.
3. Investigate the curricula of other successful districts within our district factor group, within the state, and outside the state in order to gain additional insight.
4. Investigate current research on assessment, including mandated state assessment, alternative and authentic assessments, and portfolios.
5. Establish benchmarks for each grade level.
6. Identify and prioritize the needs found during the program review – textbook adoptions, staffing, assessment tools, ancillary materials, and, as appropriate, mid-term and final examinations or other final benchmark assessment needs.
7. Based on data collected in the program review, develop a curriculum writing schedule for an annual review of the efficacy of the program.
B. Utilize the Columbus Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. holidays, as well as other in-service times during the year for staff professional development. This should also include the use of monthly faculty meetings to extend access and share experiences within such objectives.
C. Reorganize the current Basic Skills Instructional Program (BSIP) in order to create a supplemental educational service.
1. Create district-wide criteria for placement of students based on student need standardized test scores.
2. Institute a program that utilizes the BSIP teachers in a supplemental instructional role in order to decrease the gap in learning.
3. Guidance would monitor progress of students who advance out of the program to ensure continued success in regular curricular subjects.
D. Develop a district document that delineates the District Framework for Instructional Decision Making. This document will be based on current research and will include, at minimum, understanding by design, habits of mind, brain-based learning, learning inventories, differentiated instruction, pacing techniques, cooperative learning, and multiple intelligences. In addition, this document will reflect “This Is What We Think Good Teaching Is In Roxbury”.
E. Implement a monthly assessment of student progress program that includes a checklist and narrative report presented by the BSIP teacher and regular education teacher.
F. Re-assess student progress annually in order to meet our goal of transitioning students out of the program.
IV. Progressive Education
Focus: “Cutting-edge” education.
Objective I: Garner community support in passing school budgets.
A. Assemble an action committee to increase voter turnout and change voters’ perceptions.
Get out-to-vote volunteers, distribute flyers, enhance communications, market the budget better, and prepare and distribute a short, concise flyer with accomplishment list.
B. Obtain and analyze list of registered voters from the County Board of Elections.
Objective II: Explore other revenue sources as well as State and Federal funding.
A. Secure grants in house.
B. Lobby State and Federal Legislatures to meet their funding obligations.
C. Explore business partnership and shared services opportunities within and beyond the community, township, and other school districts.
Objective III: Relevant and frequent courses/workshops and supporting higher education – more efficient use of time and personnel.
A. Develop an incentive program for staff to turnkey knowledge gained from higher education graduate course work and/or workshops taken out of the district.
B. Develop a plan for non-professional and support staff members to receive systematic, on-going, sufficient Staff Development.
C. Explore expanding turnkey and in-district workshop to include surrounding school districts as a method of defraying cost.
Objective IV: Provide maximum, efficient usage by maintenance and improvements for the safety and health of its users. Hire staff and explore alternatives to update and maintain facilities.
A. Establish and follow a preventative maintenance plan.
B. Modernize building security system consistent across district for students, staff, and visitors.
C. Explore cost savings to convert to artificial athletic fields.
D. Investigate and update fees for use of school facilities.
E. Explore alternative energy efficient systems.