Dear Parents, Staff and Community,
I proudly present to you the five year strategic plan for the Wantagh Union Free School District, Building Our Future Together. This plan is the collaborative work of our entire Wantagh Community and I thank all of you that participated in this effort. This planning process began during the 2017-18 school year and continued through the end of this calendar year.
Building Our Future Together focuses on four key pillars to build our long term planning around: Outstanding Student Achievement, Exceptional Learning Environments, Successful Resource Management, and Strong Connections. Each of these pillars looks at our long term planning through a critical lens and broad goals have been created with specific strategies and measurable action plans to accomplish these goals. Our District Research Committee compiled thousands of surveys and data from focus groups to provide our Board of Education and district leadership team with a better understanding of the values of our Wantagh Community. These four pillars, along with our vision statement, mission statement and values, were all identified based upon the feedback of the entire community. This work reflects the voice of all of the members of our community that participated in this planning process.
Over the next five years, there is a tremendous amount of work that will be done to continue to move our district forward. Much of this work has already begun, as we were able to quickly tackle some of the areas that were identified in our initial survey data. As we move forward with our goals, we will continually monitor the metrics that have been identified to make sure we are meeting the identified targets and making adequate progress. All of our district, building and department goals will be aligned with the four pillars.
Building Our Future Together also focuses on navigating some of the significant challenges that lay ahead for the school district. Our district has faced declining enrollment, the fiscal restraints of a property tax cap, an aging infrastructure that needs attention and rising costs in employer contributions in health care. The plans that we develop over the next five years will factor in these challenges and develop a systematic approach to ensuring that we can still make positive strides forward despite them.
I am confident that as our community continues to collaborate to achieve long term goals, we will build upon all of the tremendous success of our school district to take it to even greater heights. I look forward to building the future together with all of the stakeholders of the Wantagh School District. On behalf of the Board of Education and all of our staff and students, thank you for your continued engagement in our school community.
Sincerely,
John C. McNamara
Superintendent of Schools