Last year, the Board of Education put together a strategic planning team that consisted of chosen FHSD community school board members, students, parents and business partners. They spent five months mending together a strategic plan that held the goals, ethics, morals and values for the next five years in the district. The plan started this year and will last until 2023.

“The strategic planning team talked about the embody, uniqueness and culture of each school in the district,” Sam Cary , senior and strategic planning member, said. “It made me excited because I was hoping we can bring back the spirit and energy to FHN.”

Together, the team decided on five ultimatums. The first focuses on student academics and how prepared students are for their life out of high school. The second focuses on the students’ learning environment and how interactive and collaborative learning is for them. The third is to improve employee leadership in the district, and the fourth goal is to improve community and parent communication, along with including “real-world” learning opportunities like the CAPS program or Lewis and Clark. The fifth and final plan is for the district to be responsible of people, time, and financial resources to achieve these goals.

“This plan the Board of Education created is about taking our district to the next level,” Board President Rene Cope said. “We are recognized in the state and district as one of the best school districts around. It’s about making this district better and helping students get prepared for life after high school.”

While the board is still figuring out how to implement the whole strategic plan, Superintendent Mary Hendricks-Harris believes that they will figure it out. So far, the Board of Education has used the first and second goals of the strategic plan. By using the CAPS program, they helped students who go straight to a career when they graduate high school. The program expanded their classes with new IT, health and entrepreneur strands as well as expanding to all St. Charles County Districts. The board wants students to have more job experience by the time they graduate.

“I think our plan is going to better prepare students for the world they are about to go live in,” Hendricks-Harris said. “The world is changing so fast. The jobs that we know of right now are going to be very different than from when our students graduate two years from now. They need to be taught the things that the workforce is looking for.”

Along with planning for the district, the Board of Education took time to plan for FHN over the summer. The board made some aesthetic changes like painting the walls and adding new branding throughout the school. When escorts were decided to not be implemented, they hired a new hall monitor so there is one monitor for each floor of the school to insure safety of students and staff.

“[The Board of Education] knew last year was a difficult time for FHN,” Hendricks-Harris said. “We were very happy Hostetler took the position because we know he would be a good fit. With the visual changes, we really wanted to characterize that it’s a new day for FHN.”