DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710160541

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Education 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   68 lines

STAYING THE COURSEEACH QUARTER, THE CHESAPEAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT REVIEWS ITS PROGRESS IN REACHING THE GOALS OF ITS FIVE-YEAR PLAN.

Every quarter the school district gets a report card, but the subjects aren't readin', 'ritin and 'rithmetic. The district is graded on the following:

School safety

Rigorous educational standards

Effectiveness and efficiency

Strengthened staff training

Technology

Community involvement

Adequate school facilities

Those categories include 178 recommendations the district must implement by certain deadlines to meet goals set two years ago by a team of about 300 parents, community members, teachers and school administrators.

``It's just incredible how much better your planning is when you have all those constituents,'' said Penny Goodin, the district's assistant in school improvement planning.

The goals are part of the district's five-year School Improvement Plan. The first phase of the program, consisting of 85 recommendations, began last year and should be complete by Nov. 1, when Phase II should begin. Phase II is expected to last until the end of the school year. Phase III is scheduled for the latter half of this school year and all of next year, Phase IV for 1999-2000 or 2000-2001, and Phase V for 2000-2001.

To set the plan in motion, cost-free recommendations were chosen for Phase I, Goodin said. Recommendations with costs - such as providing all schools with zoned motion detectors for security - were assigned to Phase III.

Goodin said that, so far, the School Board has been supportive of the recommendations. Phase III recommendations are covered in the budget. Phase IV and V recommendations will be covered under later budgets.

Along with the quarterly reports, the district reviews the plan at the end of each school year with the citizens who helped create it. The citizens review progress made and suggest changes. For example, last June the committee added a recommendation to include space for parent resource centers in each school.

This year, five schools - Butts Road Primary, Oscar Smith High School, Cedar Road Elementary, Hickory Middle and Deep Creek Central Elementary - are developing their own plans, again with the help of parents and community members.

A planning team met in August to determine goals for each school and action teams will begin meeting this month to come up with ways to reach those goals. Parents and community members who wish to take part in this process should call their school principal for more information. Goodin said eventually all schools in the district will have their own plans in order to address school-specific needs as determined by parents, teachers, administrators and community members. MEMO: If you want to see the district plan or make suggestions, call

Goodin at 547-0153. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Chesapeake School Improvement Plan

Phase I:

Some of the goals to be completed by Nov. 1, 1997

For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS GOALS

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