Local Control Goals in District’s Strategic Plan

Citizens in the Vandalia-Butler City School District have put an exclamation point on their commitment to restoring local control of their school system.  At a community meeting attended by more than 130 people, goals were inserted into the school district’s strategic plan to strengthen their community’s voice in shaping statewide education policy.   These goals state that the Vandalia-Butler City Schools will:

• promote Board of Education policies and practices which empower educators locally to optimize the learning processes for student success,
• continue to educate students, parents, and the community on a broader understanding of academic excellence and student success,
• continue to advocate for and maximize local control over teacher evaluation and development,
• enhance public communication on the local control of schools and the role of federal and state mandates through legislative updates by email and the web,
• encourage parents and the community to create an educational PAC (Political Action Group),
• advocate a Board position on selected state and federal mandates that do not favor students and schools and how each impacts local schools, and
• empower and support teacher and building innovations and adaptations which are creative ways to meet mandates.

Vandalia-Butler’s superintendent, Brad Neavin, is helping to lead a statewide movement (Ohio Public School Advocacy Network) to provide Ohio’s citizens with a stronger voice in shaping statewide education policy.