HILO — The state Department of Education is seeking community feedback as it develops a new 10-year strategic plan.
Feedback for the DOE’s 2020 Promise Plan, which is centered around five promises to students, will be collected through Aug. 1. A first draft will be unveiled in September.
DOE spokeswoman Lindsay Chambers said in an email that the department’s current strategic plan sunsets in 2020, which is why work is beginning now on the 2030 Promise Plan.
“We want to hear from students, parents, alumni, businesses and school community members on how we can best deliver on the promise and power of public education for current and future students,” Chambers said. “If people feel like they are part of the process and that their feedback made a difference, they are more likely to support the efforts of the department to provide equitable access to a quality education for all of Hawaii’s keiki.
“Public education impacts everyone in our state — from parents who send their child to a HIDOE school to businesses that hire our talented graduates,” she continued. “We want all stakeholders to participate in this process, knowing that their voice matters and their input is valued.”
Stakeholder conversations will focus on five promise themes: Hawaii, equity, school design, empowerment and innovation, Chambers said.
“Our students are too important for small promises,” said Superintendent Christina Kishimoto in a news release earlier this month. “Our next phase of strategic planning will bring together stakeholder vision and purpose around public education as a change agent for Hawaii, fueled by our three strategies: school design, teacher collaboration and student voice.”
Through the five promises, the DOE said it seeks to expand upon gains made with the two previous strategic plans and innovate to solve persistent challenges.
According to the DOE, feedback will determine what these promises look like and creative solutions to get there by 2030.
Complex area superintendents will be working with their principals and assistant superintendents to collect insight.
Chad Keone Farias, complex area superintendent for the Hilo-Waiakea and the Ka‘u-Keaau-Pahoa complex areas, said the process is “open and collaborative.”
School leaders, who were already introduced to the plan, will soon have end-of-year meetings and will work to combine portions of the old plans with the new plan based on comprehensive needs assessments, he said.
According to Farias, priorities for the new plan include helping individual schools and complex areas identify their needs, especially in regard to specific demographics, such as English language learners, socioeconomic status, special education enrollment and geographic isolation.
The next priority will be to align the plan to the needs and culture of the community, he said.
According to Chambers, the department won’t host any formal feedback sessions, but community members are encouraged to host their own using a toolkit available online at bit.ly/DOEtoolkit. Those interested in doing so can register their group at bit.ly/HIDOE-SPreg.
Farias said an event is planned for the community to provide feedback, but those details have yet to be finalized.
After the first draft is released, additional feedback will be gathered and a final plan will be presented to the state Board of Education early next year, the DOE said.
Email Stephanie Salmons at ssalmons@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
