As San Antonio ISD continues soliciting input on the district’s five-year strategic management plan, Always Learning, more than 40 community members — including parents and representatives from local government, nonprofit groups, neighborhood organizations, business and higher education — came together at Alamo Convocation Center Jan. 24 to share ideas on the direction the district is headed.

“I was happy to get the invitation to be part of a process where the district is sharing its five-year strategic plan looking forward into the future,” Dr. Enrique Alemán, director of the Educational Leadership program at Trinity University, said. “I think it’s exciting that they’re trying to get more input from different stakeholders. Doing that in a consistent way is going to let the voices of those that don’t always get heard, be heard.”

It signaled a new phase in the planning of Always Learning, initially reviewed by more than 50 employees from roles across the district who comprised a coaching committee. This group pored over the 150-page document, making 584 line edits over the course of eight four-hour meetings in November and December.

Then, at the beginning of January, employees at every level and every campus examined parts of the plan, submitting feedback in the form of more than 4,850 surveys. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, district facilitators from various departments introduced the Always Learning plan to small groups of participants, and each focus group tackled the following guiding questions:

• What is exciting about the new strategic plan?
• What are SAISD’s biggest opportunities?
• What are SAISD’s biggest challenges?
• Would you recommend SAISD to families?

“What this represented to me today was an evolution of where SAISD has been for the last five or six years,” Nick Garcia, executive director of Teach for America, said. "It just feels like it is both assuring that the progress we made continues, but also expanding on that, and not just setting out a bold vision and bold goals, but really getting into the nuts and bolts of what it will take to continue to evolve as a district.”

Garcia, whose children attend Bonham Academy and Young Women’s Leadership Academy-Primary, said he was also impressed by the level of participation in the plan leading up to this point. 

"I think that that speaks volumes that this is a community-wide effort,” he said. “It’s also going to be our campus-based staff that’s as invested in it as our district staff are, and that really signals the new horizon for the district.”

Each group also engaged in a data walk, looking at information driving three of the board goals identified in October 2022: improving reading and writing outcomes for all students, improving math outcomes for Black students, and improving college readiness for students with disabilities. 

“I was very impressed with the signs showing what the goals are and just the openness and honesty of that,” Inga Cotton, founder and executive director of SA Charter Moms, said at the event. “I feel like there’s a tendency to focus on a few bright spots and not be honest about what the deep problems are. There has been progress, but there’s still a lot of work to do. I’m really encouraged by that.”

Tuesday was the first of several requests for input from the greater community.  A Gathering of Community Voices will take place Feb. 1 at 5:30 p.m. at Alamo Convocation Center. Members of the community are also able to submit surveys through Feb. 10.  All feedback will be gathered and applied to a final draft of Always Learning by Feb. 13, which Superintendent Aquino and his staff will present to the board of trustees Feb. 27.

Grupos focales evalúan plan estratégico de 5 años

San Antonio ISD continúa solicitando opiniones en cuanto al plan estratégico de administración de cinco años para el distrito, Siempre Aprendiendo, más de 40 miembros de la comunidad —entre ellos padres y representantes del gobierno local, grupos sin fines de lucro, organizaciones de vecindario, negocios y de educación superior— se reunieron en el Alamo Convocation Center el 24 de ene. para compartir ideas sobre la dirección en la que se dirige el distrito.

“Fue un gusto recibir la invitación de ser parte de un proceso en el que el distrito está compartiendo su plan estratégico de cinco años para prepararse para el futuro”, dijo el Dr. Enrique Alemán, director del programa de Liderazgo Educativo en Trinity University. “Creo que es emocionante que busquen la opinión de diferentes partes interesadas. El hacer eso de forma consistente logrará que se escuchen las voces de las personas que no siempre se escuchan”.

Dio lugar a una nueva fase en la planificación de Siempre Aprendiendo, el cual en un principio fue revisado por más de 50 empleados con diferentes puestos en todo el distrito que formaron parte del comité de capacitación. El grupo revisó el documento de 150 páginas y realizaron 584 ajustes a lo largo de ocho reuniones de cuatro horas en noviembre y diciembre.

Luego, al principio de enero, los empleados en cada nivel y en cada escuela examinaron partes del plan, tras lo cual entregaron retroalimentación a través de más de 4,850 encuestas.

En la reunión del martes, los facilitadores del distrito de distintos departamentos presentaron el plan de Siempre Aprendiendo a grupos pequeños de participantes, y cada grupo focal abordó las siguientes preguntas guías: