District 25 planning process will start with a survey

Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 is moving toward working on a new strategic plan.

Superintendent Lori Bein said at Thursday's meeting that the process will start with a survey for all parents, staff and community members.

"I am excited to begin our strategic planning process," Bein said.

Starting Monday, the survey will be emailed to many and available on the district's website with three open-ended questions:

• "What do you appreciate about District 25?"

• "What are the challenges in District 25?"

• "Is there anything else you want to tell us?"

The survey will collect responses through March 2, then officials will go through those answers and try to find out how important each answer is to the public.

Bein said this step is called the "star step" where those who participated in the survey will get another email with 10 of the statements submitted in step one and will get to rate them in importance with one to five stars.

"This will give us some really good information to look at," she said.

The district's strategic planning committee will meet April 8 and 9 to discuss the survey results and previous strategic frameworks. Later in the year the committee will bring back final recommendations to the school board.

"We invite the entire District 25 community and all constituents to sign up and engage with us," Bein said. "I am excited about the potential growth we can have in partnership with our community."

Bein said the district also is reaching out to day care centers and nursery schools to get responses from future District 25 parents.

"This process is important because it will help us figure out what are the next big topics or areas that we should be looking at as a board of education or administration for the future of District 25," Bein said.