School District 60 encourages public input on strategic plan

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — School District 60 is still seeking feedback for its strategy, and board chair Helen Gilbert emphasizes the importance of everyone having a chance to share their input.

Gilbert says the district is trying to gather feedback from many people, as School District 60 covers three municipalities, two areas of the regional community and three First Nations.

She says a strategic plan helps the board focus on agreed-upon priorities when allocating resources, and the board is currently operating under a strategic plan developed by a previous board.

“Lots of good things in it, but when they did it, they didn’t necessarily have the degree of community engagement in the process that this board is looking for,” Gilbert said.

“We’ve done a number of engagement sessions now with both internal stakeholders, and we’ve done some with external stakeholders as well.”

The board chair says they’re gathering information about students’ academic and social development, governance, operations, facilities, truth and reconciliation and recruiting.

Following the engagement period that will continue until January, including an online survey, the board will produce a “What We Heard” report to take further feedback.

“Then we will produce a document that’s our renewed strategic plan by the end of the school year,” Gilbert said. “That document will guide the district’s work for the next three to five years.”

For more information on the strategic plan and to take the online survey, visit the School District’s website.

The full Community Roundup with Gilbert can be viewed below: