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EDWARDSBURG — Edwardsburg Public Schools continues to move forward with its strategic planning process.

Superintendent Dr. Courtney Szucs hosted an interactive discussion Tuesday at the District Administrative Center Board of Education Room that will be used in the creation of our new five-year, district-wide strategic plan. Parents and community members were on hand to provide feedback that will guide the district in developing new goals and strategies.

The first phase began several months ago with an online survey for stakeholders. According to Dr. Szucs, of the 350 people who responded to the online survey last fall, almost 100 were students.

“The student voice is really coming through which is exactly what we’re here for,” Dr. Szucs said. “Their input was actually really good and thoughtful.”

Szucs stressed the importance of developing the new plan by saying the district’s previous strategic plan, which was created in 2019, did not anticipate the COVID pandemic and its impact on education and the current needs of students.

Currently, the district is in phase two of development, which consists of gathering in-person stakeholder input. The district is in the process of finishing gathering student, teacher and staff input and has visited with the local Lions Club. Dr. Szucs also mentioned plans to meet with other groups and organizations, including the historical society.

“We’ve done PTO, athletic boosters, band boosters, all the different types of staff in the district, maintenance, custodial food service, and then we’re getting that student voice,” Dr. Szucs said.

To help facilitate dialogue and discussion, Dr. Szucs had stakeholders conduct a SWOT analysis of the district. A SWOT analysis is a strategic tool that helps people identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of their school, business or organization. Of the participating groups, there were several aspects of the district that people agreed on, including:

Strengths: Community support/involvement; school pride; athletics; academic reputation

Weaknesses: Building condition; class size; pre-school; communication

Opportunity: Athletic/academic growth; Improved/safer facilities; preschool; a centralized campus; grants; robotics; CTE

Threats: Lack of housing to support growth; communication; erosion of pride/support; rumor mill; funding; voter education

Once the input is received, Dr. Szucs said the strategic plan executive team – made up of board members, parents, staff, teachers, non-teachers and students – will analyze the information provided and create a strategic plan based on that input.

“We will basically look at all of this information and pull out those themes that we’re seeing where stuff is mentioned multiple times. Those will become our three to five focus areas. From there, we will look at what our goals are and we’ll have probably three to five goals depending on the focus area and then what are our steps to accomplish that.

Dr. Szucs said that the new strategic plan will serve as the district’s “North Star” for the next five years. and that strategic plan becomes our ‘North Star’ as a district.

“A good strategic plan is what you reference all the time,” she said. “It’s what everybody knows and understands. It keeps us focused to accomplish those goals and kind of tunes out the noise around us.”

Stakeholders talk zero mill bond proposal

In addition to strategic planning, there was a question and answer session on the Zero Mill Bond Proposal that will be brought before the community on May 7.

The bond would allow the district to sell bonds and generate approximately $24.4 million with a zero-mill net increase over the current tax rate of 2.85 mills. As the name suggests, the 21-year bond would not raise taxes.

“We have heard from some people who have called up here and said this bond sounds like one of those credit card things where it starts at zero percent but it’s gonna spike at the end and sounds a little too good to be true,” Dr. Szucs said. “What we’ve said is, nope, it’s not too good to be true. However, we’re not asking for nothing. We are basically asking to keep the same tax rate that they currently have for the schools 2.85 mills and to keep it for another 20 to 21 years.

If the interest rate gets better, we might be able to refinance sooner than that but it is asking for 20 to 21 more years of what everyone’s currently paying. 

“So it’s not nothing. That would net the school district $24.4 million dollars, which sounds like a lot of money in today’s world and what you can do in the school system.”

According to Wilson, the response to the millage has been positive.

“It’s been very positive,” Wilson said. “Your taxes aren’t going to go up. We’re still gonna levy the same millage that we always have and it gets us a little money to start. It is a starting point to get much-needed upgrades.”

Dr. Szucs said the district aims to continue to build trust with district parents and community members with emphasis on communication and transparency.

“One thing that we really heard was that ‘we want to make sure as the community that you’re going to do what you’ve said you’re going to do,’” Dr. Szucs said. “In order to do that, we have to show you what we’re fixing first so that if the bond passes that when we make those repairs, you can come in and see that we actually did what we said we were going to do so we continue to build that community trust.”

The safety of children in district buildings and classrooms is a key component of the bond process. Secure vestibules, office renovations and campus traffic pattern and circulation upgrades were among the proposed measures to ensure safety. 

“The focus of this bond and what we were hearing from the community is that they would support safety, security and infrastructure,” Dr. Szucs said. “Those are some big needs that we have here, especially the infrastructure piece. This bond would help every school, some more than others. It would look at finishing up all the routine projects we have.”

“This bond is going to get us our necessities,” Wilson said. “It’s gonna get us some security measures. There’s no frills in this, it’s a starting poin to look to the future and where we want to go from here.”

Some of the other projects included in the potential bond proposal are as follows:

• Primary School – Improve safety and security with a secure entry vestibule, a new parent traffic pattern, and fire alarm system upgrades.
• Eagle Lake Elementary – Add secure entry vestibule, replace aging classroom finishes such as flooring, update fire alarm systems, and renovate restrooms.
• Intermediate School – Renovate existing entry and front office to improve safety and security, upgrade mechanical and electrical systems, including fire alarm systems, and reconfigure parent traffic patterns.
• New Learning Center – Renovate former church to create space for additional education needs.
• Middle School – Provide secure vestibule with direct access to secure office area, remodel of existing main entry, replace interior doors, some roofing replacements, improve ventilation, and upgrade mechanical and electrical systems, including the fire alarm system.
• High School – Prioritize safety and security with the addition of a secure vestibule and office area, remodel cafeteria, substantial roofing replacements, improve ventilation, and upgrade mechanical and electrical systems, including the fire alarm system.

“It’s not anything you know that would be considered super fun but it does bring the district to a level where we don’t have to worry about the pipes bursting at the intermediate because the roof isn’t done correctly with insulation in the middle of winter,” Dr. Szucs said. “We don’t have to worry about if we’re going to have to try to finagle the boilers because we don’t have controls to control them anymore because of their age. So we don’t have to then worry about possibly needing to close school at any point in the winter. It makes it so that we’re at a place where we can kind of breathe a little bit and then look at some of those other things that are needed in the district as well.”

Those who were unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting are encouraged to attend the next meeting to be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 25 at the District Administrative Center Board of Education Room.`