Strategic-plan update begins Sept. 24

Public input is welcome at meetings to update the Battle Ground Public Schools’ three-year strategic plan. Click "read more" for more about the Sept. 10 School Board meeting at which the strategic plan update was discussed and the initial 2012-13 enrollment was reported.

 
Thomas O'Connor of windmountaingroup.com is volunteering his time to facilitate updating of the school district's strategic plan.

Updating the strategic plan is central to the school district’s ongoing long-range planning and to see how we are doing in preparing students to succeed in the next step in their lives.

Updating the plan also figures in setting the amount of a February 2013 school-levy ballot measure. The levy approved by district voters in 2010 expires in December 2013.

The first meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, at the former Lewisville Middle School following a 3 p.m. School Board workshop and a regular Board meeting at 4:30 p. m. Times and places of subsequent strategic-plan update meetings are yet to be determined. They will be announced on this Website.

Thomas O’Connor, a Vancouver management consultant (www.windmountaingroup.com), is volunteering his time and talent to facilitate the updating of the strategic plan, as he did in 2009 for the drafting of the current plan, accessible at battlegroundps.org on the right under “Key Links.”

Directions to former Lewisville Middle School:

1. From Main Street in downtown Battle Ground, turn north on Northwest Fifth Avenue (between Dick’s Tires and the Post Office.)

2. Continue north past the BGHS campus to the Lewisville parking lot.

3. Park and walk north through the gate across the blacktop plaza to Building C.

Enrollment on target for 2012-13

Here are some highlights of the initial enrollment report for 2012-13:

10,757 – This is the September full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment for all but alternative schools (CAM Academy, Summit View High School and River HomeLink) and the Running Start (college) program. The comparable FTE enrollment in September 2011 was 10,762.

10,653 – Projected average FTE enrollment for the entire 2012-13 year for all but the alternative schools and Running Start. (Projected average monthly enrollments for the entire year are used to prepare each year’s budget. State financial support is based primarily on actual enrollment.)

1,318 – September FTE enrollment for the alternative schools (CAM Academy, Summit View High School and River HomeLink.

1,473 – The projected average enrollment for the alternative schools for  2012-13. Alternative programs typically grow throughout the year and are expected to meet the budgeted target.

360 – The projected FTE enrollment in Running Start, which will be counted for the first time in early October.

12,486 – Total school district projected (budgeted) average enrollment for 2012-13. (Last school year the comparable number was 12,322.)

12,435 – Total actual September enrollment plus projected Running Start enrollment.

MaryBeth Lynn, Assistant Supt. for finance and school operations, said, “Enrollment at primary and middle schools typically grows slightly throughout the school year while high school enrollment declines.  The district is hopeful that the annual average will meet the budgeted projection.”