TWIN FALLS, Idaho — The first day of school is coming up fast for students in the Twin Falls School District, but as the district preps for the fall they're also looking ahead to the future.
Every five years, the Twin Falls School District sits down with community members to plan out their goals for the next five years.
It's called a strategic plan, and this is the year the newest one starts.
"Probably close to 90 community members. Parents, grandparents, business owners, that took part in these roundtable sessions," explained Eva Craner, a public information officer with the district. "Right now I think our document is about 8 pages long, but I would anticipate it will be pushing 60 pages by the end of the 5 years."
The district says the plan is always growing and changing, but it acts as a blueprint for the district's next five years.
"We track everything we do within that plan," Craner said. "We set goals, we set measurements to make sure we're reaching those goals, and then we report on those measurements."
Even before the coronavirus hit, those goals included making mental health a priority.
"It was the one topic that came up at every meeting that we had this spring," said Dr. Brady Dickinson, Superintendent of the district.
With the pandemic, the district expanded that focus area to include overall well-being.
"While we want to support the mental health of our staff and students, the overall health and safety of our community are very important as well," Craner said. "In a world where COVID-19 is a concern, we're talking about the health and safety of our staff members. Rather than having these physical structures, having the ability to adapt and change."
If you'd like to check out the strategic plan, the district updates it constantly on their website.
