The concept of the Continuous Improvement Model ensures the work performed by you and your organization’s leadership works toward a common goal: improving the services and products you provide to your customers.
No matter the type of organization – nonprofit, business, education, or government – your leadership should develop and execute a plan for Continuous Improvement now and into the future, helping improve your services and products so your customers remain informed and consistently happy.
edTactics implements the Continuous Improvement Model for its clients and case studies like these will help enlighten our readers to what it is we do and how we may be able to help your organization, too!
Case Study: New School Facilities and a New Superintendent
Grandview School District – Grandview, Washington
The Challenge
Grandview School District needed to add facilities for its growing student population. The district outgrew its current buildings, and planned to construct new schools to accommodate its students. In addition, Grandview SD hired an experienced but new-to-Grandview superintendent, Henry Strom, to replace outgoing Superintendent Kevin Chase who was selected as the new leader for the area’s Educational Service District.
Superintendent Strom and the district’s administration team wanted community input and feedback to ensure the district’s future plans aligned with what taxpayers wanted for their schools. The team also wanted to involve the community in planning the new facilities so they could shore up support for the future bond measure.
The Solution
Step 1: Key Stakeholder Interviews
edTactics started by conducting Key Stakeholder Interviews with the community. Working with Grandview School District administrators, the district identified community members representing different facets of Grandview who were enlisted for one-on-one interviews to investigate their thoughts of the district’s current progress and what they would like to see for the future of their community schools.
The Key Stakeholder Interview Process reinforces the importance for your organization to understand its current and future needs to your stakeholders. Key Stakeholder Interviews give the interviewee the time to speak in-depth about the issues most important to them with professional interviewers who know when to ask the hard questions and seek more insight.
In addition, by hiring edTactics, an independent third party, Grandview School District’s leadership knew their stakeholders spoke openly, candidly, and honestly without fear of retribution or hurt feelings. An organization’s leadership should always want to hear the truth provided from these interviews, no matter how painful it might be, as it will help shape the future of its services and products.
The stakeholders identified three specific areas of focus for the future of Grandview School District: Communications, Programs, and Facilities.
Step 2: Capital Facilities Advisory Team Facilitation and Project Management
Using the priorities identified during the Key Stakeholder Process, edTactics helped Grandview School District assemble an advisory team including 12-15 community members and district employees to provide ongoing feedback through the capital facilities planning process.
Over the course of many months, edTactics facilitated the advisory team with regular meetings to discuss architect plans, construction team ideas, and other aspects of the capital facilities project. The team’s feedback shaped the new schools the district planned to build, and provided valuable feedback to both the architect and the construction manager to ensure the proposed schools met the needs the community identified. Between meetings, the members of the advisory team met with other members of the community to get their feedback on the proceedings, returning to the next meeting with these new insights.
In addition to advisory team facilitation, edTactics met with the architects and construction team to help Grandview School District throughout every step of the planning process. With years of construction experience, edTactics’ team identified possible pitfalls and other issues, saving Grandview School District both time and money.
The Result
Grandview School District used the Key Stakeholder Process to enable the Capital Facilities Advisory Team to create an effective plan for the future of the community’s schools resulting in the passage of a $42 million bond for the construction of a new two-story high school with a 62.04% supermajority.
edTactics helps school districts implement and execute Community-Based Program and Facility Advisory Teams using our proven Continuous Improvement Model for Community Outreach, and edTactics has a perfect record.
That’s right. Every school district who used edTactics to help create their plans with effective community outreach passed their bond or levy measure.
edTactics specializes in comprehensive Continuous Improvement for every aspect of school districts including Community Outreach, Facility Planning, Leadership Coaching, and Strategic Communications.
We would love to hear from you about your district’s needs and help you guide your schools to success! Feel free to give us a call at (800) 983-8408 to discuss the services you’re seeking with one of our free consultations! If you prefer, you can also reach out via email.
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edTactics will provide you with our professional experience and expertise so you can focus on your work.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Art Edgerly & Eric Jacobson
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