MISSION, VISION AND VALUES RECEIVE A REFRESH
Last spring and into the summer, the school district decided to give our mission, vision and values an update. There was a sentiment that we wanted to make things more concise and try to capture what the School District of Spencer is truly about. After gathering some general information, a sub-committee was created, comprised of members of the leadership teams in both the middle/high school and the elementary school. Members included Carmen Schweiger, Jenny Wilke, Julia Craft, Amanda Seefeldt, Wendy Comstock, Heidi Brostowitz, Eddie Ikert and myself. The committee met several times to redraft the mission, vision and motto. The school board then met to participate in an activity that would identify five values they found to be important. The language to the left is the final product of the entire process that was approved by our school board.
The purpose of a mission is to identify why we exist as an organization. We feel that there is a strong sentiment that we need to work to build resilience within our students, staff and community. We want students to learn to work well with others and look to solve problems that they encounter. The idea of being a lifelong learner is something we want all of our students to embody.
The vision statement captures where we want to go as an organization. We want to graduate successful individuals who will positively contribute to society. We fully understand and embrace that success can look very different from person to person and there is no single definition of success that should fit all people. Whether it is going on to college, technical school, the workforce, the trades or the military, we want to be able to put all of our students in a position to be successful.
The five values our school board identified represent what we want all of our students, staff, parents and community members to demonstrate. Integrity and accountability go hand in hand, and are traits that successful people of all walks of life should possess. We live in a world where working with others is essential to many jobs, so the idea of teamwork fits well with preparing students for the future. While achievement is an important mark of any school, we also recognize that growth is equally if not more important.
Lastly, we have a new motto. We want to ensure that we are inspiring our students to be the best version of themselves. We understand that our primary purpose is to educate students, and along the way we want to celebrate the successes of our students, staff and community as a whole. As we move forward with our strategic planning process we want to use our mission, vision and values as a base and litmus test as we determine our goals, objectives and plans for the future. We are a student-first district with a strong sentiment of the Rocket Family.
~Jason Gorst, district administrator
