ECISD plays with strategy

It’s all about strategy for the Ector County Independent School District board of trustees.

The strategic plan is a five-year plan approved by the board last November. Comprised of belief and mission statements and action plans created by community members, parents, teachers and students, the plan was created to give the school district a clear vision of where the community wants them to go. Now, the board members are trying to figure out how to actually get there.

The board is meeting at noon Tuesday to work on making the ECISD strategic plan a reality.

Back in February, the board approved a $70,000 contract with the District Management Council to have them audit the upper level administration in the district. Over the course of four to six weeks, the audit will look at how upper level management in the administration was implementing the plan.

ECISD superintendent Hector Mendez urged the board to approve the audit because it would give district administrators clear-cut steps to make the plan a reality. The audit has been done and the board is set to hear a presentation of the results on Tuesday.

“The strategic plan was created so that you know where you’re going in the next few years, instead of just going from one crisis to another one, and the action plan is how we’re going to do,” board president Tom Pace said.

While this meeting will just be looking at the proposals from the District Management Council, the board will most likely look at more significant changes in the next few months as they move toward putting the plan into action.

Board member Donna Smith said the idea of moving ECISD from a junior high model, with grades seventh eighth and ninth on campus, to a middle school model, with grades sixth, seventh and eighth on campus, is a part of the strategic plan. If this model is approved it would mean significant restructuring for the district possibly leading to larger high schools, a ninth-grade high school or adding a third high school, Smith said.

Pace acknowledged that middle school system is part of the strategic plan, and moving to the system would create changes in the district, but he said the board is still at the beginning stages of turning strategy into reality.

“This is the first time we’ve addressed it. This is about implementing the plan for one year and what we’re going to accomplish in that year,” Pace said.