OLEAN — With one week left until the 2023-24 school year begins in the Olean City School District, the Board of Education Tuesday approved both the district’s safety plan and the goals for the next 12 months.
Before receiving board approval, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Genelle Morris reviewed both plans’ several-month process and the final presented documents.
For the Safety Plan, Morris said Olean has a District-wide Emergency Response Team, and every school in the district has a Building-level Emergency Response Team.
“Each building-level plan will be submitted by that building and it is not subject to public review or approval,” she said.
Both groups meet several times throughout the year and are comprised of teachers, staff, administrators, school board members, law enforcement, emergency responders and parents.
The plan should be reviewed and revised annually concluding with a district-hosted public hearing to review the plan and obtain feedback for 30 days before the school board approves the new plan.
“We spent much of the summer reviewing both our district and our school plans,” she said. “We’ve done several trainings, including as a leadership team and also with external organizations, making sure to strengthen our plans.”
Morris said there were several updates to this year’s plan and process, including beginning the process for feedback earlier. She said the Safety Committee received the plan to review in the spring and the entire district staff received it in June, giving them plenty of time to provide feedback before the approval Tuesday night.
“We made sure that we looked at these plans earlier and started to align our plans with the checklist for safety earlier to make sure we were aligned with the guidelines from State Ed in terms of the development of the plan,” she added.
The approved plan is to be posted on the district website and submitted to the State Education Department and local police by Oct. 1.
MEANWHILE, the district/board goals for the upcoming school year were reviewed by Morris, school board members and their facilitator on Monday in anticipation of Tuesday’s approval.
Morris said they wanted to make sure the goals aligned with the district’s strategic plan approved in June, which includes creating and supporting a positive culture; maximizing success for all; data-driven decision-making; progressive and enriching learning for all students; and engaging parental and community involvement.
From there, the board developed five goal statements to focus on in the 2023-24 school year:
Student Achievement – The Olean City School District will provide opportunities to support the achievement of all students as they increase their capacity for learning and progress toward excellence.
Personnel – The Olean City School District will support the recruitment, training, and retention of a highly qualified and diverse staff.
Financial Responsibility – The Olean City School District will be a faithful steward of the community’s financial commitment to the students and will be responsible for managing all resources.
Safe and Supportive Learning Environment – The Olean City School District will provide a safe and supportive learning environment that is inclusive, nurturing, and responsive to the socio-emotional and mental health needs of all students and staff.
Community, Communication, and Transparency – The Olean City School District will foster trust and engagement through open two-way communication, outreach, and responsiveness to all internal and external stakeholders.
Along with each of the five goals, the board included a couple of performance objectives and initiatives to help complete each of the goals.
For example, in order to maximize success for all, the performance objectives are to: analyze and adjust instructional practices; and establish monitoring systems to track student progress and adjust interventions accordingly.
Among the initiatives for these objects are to: review current instructional resources being used for Core Reading Instruction in K-3 and analyze impact/effectiveness on overall student performance; design and implement an MTSS Guide with a tiered map, protocols, improvement cycle, and training/support plan; and deliver intentional targeted multi-tiered systems of support and interventions for all students to narrow the achievement gap through evidence-based instructional strategies and differentiated instruction.
“This is not a one-year list,” Morris said. “It is our directional goal this year to get on that path to achieve the goals and our overall mission and vision that is delivered through our strategic plan.”
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