With a chance to win a free iPod, the InClass survey concerning Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) matters attracted 528 high school students. But where was all of that input headed?

The survey was part of a new Strategic Plan that the district has been concocting for the past few months. The district, along with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company Incorporated, has been taking several steps in order to ensue a plan that will pave the way for the next five years. “Our last Strategic Plan in this district I believe was four or five years ago, and it’s good business practice to come back and revisit it,” Strategic Plan committee member Principal Noreen Likins said. “The things that are important to us now might be the same as they were but they might have changed because they’ve developed and evolved over a period of time.”

The first step in the process involved gathering input from those affected by the decision-making, such as parents, students, teachers and administrators. The district held several student focus groups in order to discuss school likes and dislikes on a one-to-one basis. On April 8, the PAUSD held a board meeting to discuss the survey findings and explain in-depth the ins and outs of the new Strategic Plan.

Out of those findings, the respondents from the online surveys included 3,173 PAUSD parents, 528 high school students, 40 administrators and 400 teachers. One conclusion from the surveys was that teachers and administrators feel the need to gain more support from the district. Parents were also deemed less satisfied with counseling services and counselor availability.

The next steps in this process include a variety of meetings hosted throughout the remainder of April. “Essentially what the district wants to do is to be at the point where at the very end of April, all the representatives can sit down with McKinsey [the consultants] and discuss the plan,” Likins said.