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Superintendent Callison's Entry Plan

Graphic reading: "Together, for every student: Superintendent Callison's Entry Plan" with a photo of Superintendent Ginger Callison taking the oath of office.

What is a Superintendent Entry Plan?

An entry plan outlines the steps a new superintendent will take during the first year to learn about the school district and community, as well as how the learning will be used to develop short- and long-term plans for the district and the well-being of our students. My entry plan outlines how I will learn about our district from the Tahoma community, assess our strengths and challenges, and begin to build the strong relationships and partnerships that will benefit our district, schools and the entire community for years to come. 

As you will see in my entry plan, my first year as Tahoma’s superintendent will be divided into three phases, with the last part of the 2024-25 school year dedicated to collaborating with our school board and community to develop the next five-year district strategic plan. I look forward to working alongside you to preserve our strengths, identify and act on opportunities to grow and improve, and develop a plan for the future that reflects what the Tahoma community wants for its schools.

I will share entry plan updates throughout the year, and will always welcome your feedback. I’m excited to work with you and achieve ambitious goals for our students.

Superintendent Callison's Entry Plan Goals

  1. Learn from students, families, staff members, and community members what is working well, what needs to be improved, what the dreams are for Tahoma schools in the future, and how we should prioritize our efforts immediately and in the long term.
     
  2. Understand Tahoma's operations, use of resources, current and historical outcomes, programs, facility needs, and projected future needs and opportunities.
     

  3. Develop honest, trusting, and collaborative relationships with students, staff members, families, and community partners that continually strengthen confidence in the Tahoma School District and allow us to meet the goals we set for the future.
     

  4. Collaborate with the Tahoma School Board and community to develop the district's next strategic plan.

Phase 1: Listen, Learn and Build Partnerships

Spring - November 2024

The first phase includes listening and learning for the purpose of understanding the  perspectives of our district community. I will also be observing, reviewing and assessing how Tahoma operates as a district. 

During Phase 1, I will:

  • Attend district and community events for the purpose of learning about the district, developing relationships, and strengthening partnerships.

  • Review and evaluate the impact of district initiatives, operations, practices and programs, specifically the use of resources, purposes and outcomes of partnerships, outcomes of our district and school programs.

  • Prepare our staff to engage in improvement efforts related to attendance, literacy, math, and employee engagement.

  • Develop a system for open, honest and effective communication that includes soliciting and responding to feedback.

  • Hold monthly published office hours that allow students, staff members, family members or community members to ask questions and share information.

  • Understand the condition and current/future capacity of all district facilities.

  • Visit each school on a regular basis to observe our programs in action and engage with staff and students about their experiences.

  • Host listening and learning events that allow me to gather input on the district’s strengths and needs. Event specifics are outlined below.

The events below will allow me to hear directly from students, families, community members and staff members about their experiences in our district and our schools, and allow our school board members, staff members and me to identify immediate and future needs and priorities for the Tahoma School District.

Community Forums

We are holding six interactive community forums this fall to engage in conversations with families and community members. School board directors will co-host these forums with me. During these forums, we will share information about current district goals and performance, answer questions, and ask for your input about the future direction of the district. An additional community forum will be held virtually to ensure the meetings are accessible to as many people as possible.

Forum Information: Each community forum will be held from 6-7:30 PM. The forum will include a brief presentation about our strategic plan and where we are headed as a district. Following the presentation, we will open up a Q&A between the attendees, Supt. Callison, and two school board directors.

We are limiting attendance to the forums to ensure that attendees have an opportunity for their voice to be heard. If you are interested in attending a forum, please complete this interest form. If you are selected to attend a forum, you will be notified via email no more than 10 days preceding the forum.

Forum dates and locations (all 6-7:30 PM):

  • Wednesday, Sept. 18 at Maple View Middle School library

  • Thursday, Sept. 26 at Tahoma Elementary School library

  • Thursday, Oct. 3 at Tahoma High School library

  • Monday, Oct. 7 at Summit Trail Middle School library

  • Monday, Oct. 14 at Rock Creek Elementary School library

  • Wednesday, Oct. 23, virtual via Microsoft Teams

Other community engagement activities will include scheduled conversations with community leaders, organizations, and current/potential district partners.

Additional opportunities for families and community members to provide input will be available electronically on a variety of topics throughout the year. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Focus Groups

I will work with the district leadership team to conduct focus groups with students, families, and staff members based on what is learned during listening sessions, and to provide perspective on key district initiatives. The purpose of these focus groups is to:

  • Gain more specific information about how we are serving students well, and where we can improve.

  • Deeply understand the experiences of staff members and family members.

  • Learn how we can strengthen support for students in the areas of literacy, math, and achieving consistent attendance, which are district focus areas for improvement.

  • Provide input that can be shared with our school board during the development of the 2025-2030 Tahoma School District Strategic Plan.

Staff Connections

  • I am meeting with every district department to get to know the team, learn about how the department functions, and understand how the department supports the achievement of district goals. 

  • I will meet regularly with the district’s employee association partners to collaborate on challenges and opportunities.

  • I will meet with employee groups and school teams to better understand their experiences as employees.

  • I will visit schools on a regular basis to engage with students and staff members and observe their experiences.

Phase 2: Analyze and Summarize Our Findings

November 2024 - January 2025

Phase 2 is critical to making sure we're on the same page with our community. I will work with district leaders to take what you shared during Phase 1 and identify recurring themes. We will report our findings to you and ask for additional feedback. Once we are confident our identified priorities are aligned with our community's expectations, we'll be ready to transition into developing our district's next strategic plan.

In addition, I will work closely with our staff to assess our progress on the goals to improve attendance, literacy, math and employee engagement.

During Phase 2 I will:

  • Review input and feedback gathered from district stakeholders during Phase 1

  • Identify themes and present findings to our community

  • Solicit feedback to ensure we identified the right priorities

  • Work with our school board to develop and publish a process for the development of our next strategic plan

  • Assess the systems we have in place to support improved outcomes in attendance, literacy, math and employee engagement

Phase 3: Develop Our Next Strategic Plan

February - June 2025

This is where the rubber meets the road! Every five years, our school board adopts a strategic plan that sets our district's priorities and actions for the next five years. You may have heard of our current plan, Tahoma CARES, which concludes at the end of the 2024-25 school year. The Superintendent Entry Plan timeline aligns with the development of the strategic plan for 2025-30.

During Phase 3 I will: 

  • Work with the Tahoma School Board and community to develop our district’s next strategic plan

  • Present a proposal for our next 5-year strategic plan to the school board, which will launch in the 2025-26 school year

  • Work with the community to evaluate our growth in the areas of attendance, literacy, math and employee engagement.

I know we have all the talent, community support and determination needed in Tahoma to make major breakthroughs in the education of our students, and I could not be more excited to partner with you as we engage in this critical work. Current and future Tahoma students are counting on our collective creativity, resilience and unwavering commitment to working together to preserve our strengths and find solutions to the most persistent and complex challenges in education. I look forward to the opportunities to collaborate with you during my first year, and I could not be more optimistic about our future.

Community Forums

We are limiting attendance to our 6 community forums to ensure that attendees have an opportunity for their voice to be heard. If you are interested in attending a forum, please complete this interest form. If you are selected to attend a forum, you will be notified via email.

community forum interest form

Community Forum Calendar

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