By Holly Fesperman Lee

Salisbury Post

Members of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education heard a proposed draft of the 2006-2008 District Improvement Plan Monday.

The plan is needed to meet requirements from the district's accreditation agency and the No Child Left Behind federal program.

Alesia Burnette, director of school improvement, gave a presentation on the plan that outlined the system's goals.

There are seven system goals:

* School climate;

* Curriculum, instruction and student achievement;

* High expectations for all;

* Quality of life and education;

* Safe and supportive schools;

* Recruitment and retention of staff; and

* Development of partnerships.

Each goal has objectives and system strategies for accomplishing the objectives.

For example, goal No. 1, school climate, has three objectives:

* To ensure a positive and inviting school and school system climate;

* To improve the understanding of cultural diversity; and

* To build a sense of collaboration among all stakeholders.

Ongoing communication about the system's mission and vision, as well as increasing awareness and understanding of cultural diversity, are just two of the strategies outlined to help accomplish the school climate goal in the system. Individual schools will develop their own strategies for accomplishing objectives, Burnette said.

Board member Kyle Huffman suggested that the minutes of each individual school's improvement team meeting be posted on the school system's Web site so school and community members know what's being discussed.

Superintendent Dr. Judy Grissom said the Web site redesign currently under way would help with that request. In addition to the system Web site, Grissom said individual school Web sites will also become more user-friendly.

School board member Dr. Jim Emerson asked how the plan's success would be measured. Grissom said she and Burnette were working on a form to go along with the plan that will combine objective and subjective data to measure the plan's effectiveness at the end of each year.

Burnette said the district's improvement planning team will be seeking feedback from various groups, including the school board in the next two weeks.

During a break, Board Chairman Bryce Beard told a Post reporter that he was glad to see the plan was all about collaboration and different groups, "not just one size fits all." He said he enjoyed the presentation because the district improvement planning team is taking the plan to everyone involved — from parents to teachers — and they are all contributing to school improvement plans.

A copy of the entire draft plan and Burnette's presentation are available on the Rowan-Salisbury School's Web site, www.rss.k12.nc.us.