Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Superintendent aims to create a vision for the future

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



WILBRAHAM School Superintendent Paul Gagliarducci outlined some long-term goals for the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District at a recent School Committee meeting because the time has come for the district to reassess where it is going in the future.

"In 1994, the district put together a strategic plan," Gagliarducci explained, "and that tied in with the collaboration of our two towns. In 2000, we looked at that plan as a five-year review ... and we let it go for another five years. After five years, a plan loses significance because time changes things."

The superintendent has no definitive goals for the district himself because a group of those within the district needs to flesh out goals that are appropriate for everyone. That group would be made up of interested students from both the high school and the middle schools, teachers, administrators, parents, community members and the School Committee.

"I'm aiming for a strategic visioning process," Gagliarducci explained. "It's important to look at the future as a vision."

He added that visions need both planning and time because "improvement is a process."

Once a group is chosen, they will need to set their process and timeline and after they've decided on a district wide strategic plan, each school will need to look at their individual visions and how they tie into the that of the district, according to Gagliarducci.

"Everyone counts, it's as simple as that," he said.

He went on to say that finding people for the visioning committee would be the easy part of the process and that he hopes by next June to "have some things on paper" and to "be moving in a new direction from 2008 to 2013."

"I don't want to get hung up on a lot of goals and objectives," Gagliarducci noted. "They can get in the way of the meaning of a strategic plan."

The district wide improvement plan has been linked to the district's strategic plan since it was originally drafted more than a decade ago. The improvement plan for the 2007-08 school year can be seen at www.hwrsd.org/admin/improveplan.pdf.

The school system's district wide technology plan, which will be used through 2009, can be viewed online at www.hwrsd.org/education/teachlearn/techplan0509.pdf.