If there’s one thing local organizations can take away from the unexpected divergence from everyday life following Superstorm Sandy, it’s that it’s always best to have a plan. The Beach Haven School District has invited staff members, parents, students, community leaders and other interested members of the general public to join together to help construct the school’s strategic plan, likely the first of its kind for the school. The preparation is expected to help create a vision of the future and identify the goals and strategies necessary for the district to meet the challenges of the 21st century, including state and federal mandates. “It’s not only about the school, but it’s about the future of education and how it’s going to be placed upon us,” said EvaMarie Raleigh, superintendent of the Beach Haven School. During the first of the three planned meetings, held Monday, Feb. 3, participants identified the strengths and challenges of the district. The school’s small student body is both an asset and a disadvantage, said Raleigh. “It’s a strength in that there’s a small student-to-staff ratio, but it’s tough when you’re doing collaboration with the students because it’s nice for them to have different partners at times,” she explained. “People have different skills working on different activities, so when your (school is) tiny, it’s kind of hard to do a lot of that because you’re always working with the same people. That’s a challenge, but it’s also a plus because it’s great that everyone knows every kid.” Raleigh will present the complete findings to the committee during the next meeting, set for Tuesday, March 11, at 7 p.m., in the school’s art room. Participants will break into groups to work on the different ideas and help formulate long-term, five- to seven-year goals for the school, based on its defined strengths and challenges. The last meeting, on Tuesday, April 8, will address the action plan for those specific goals. “It’s dreaming big; it’s the future. It’s about now and moving forward,” said Raleigh. “It’s kind of something that you do, and then you visit it every year and you tweak the plan. You take everything, and you look at what you’re good at, what the plans are. You kind of just put a road map down. You try to stick to it, but a lot of times you have to adjust it as the year goes by because you never know what might be on the horizon if you’re not thinking about it until it comes.” Last year’s move to the Eagleswood Township Elementary School, following Sandy damage to the Beach Haven School, is a prime example of some of those unexpected deviations from the original plan, said Raleigh. “You could never have planned for last year and then coming back here, but our goal is looking at our staff, looking at our curriculum, looking at our programs, even looking at our after-school activities anything that kind of comes up.” —

Courtesy of: Kelley Anne Essinger kelleyanne@thesandpaper.net