Colby School District Launching a Strategic Planning Process

Monday, November 3rd, 2025 -- 1:01 PM

(Sean White, WSAW) The Colby School District is launching a strategic planning process to determine the future direction for its schools.

According Sean White with WSAW, the process is designed to engage all district stakeholders, including parents, teachers, administrators, staff, students, and the community in developing a shared vision for the District.

The school district says community involvement will allow a long-term framework for decision-making that builds upon the common values held by the community. “Effective education of students requires a commitment from the entire community,” Superintendent Patrick Galligan said.

“We are excited to launch this inclusive strategic planning process that will help create the future for our district. The approach we are taking is a research-based approach, which means that decisions come from data, rather than intuition.”

During November and December, school board members, parents, employees, students, and community members who do not have children in the schools will be given opportunities to participate in interviews, focus groups and/or an online survey. Information will be sent out through various formats about opportunities to participate in the process.

All data collected through interviews, focus groups and the survey, along with the district’s mission and vision statements and guiding principles, will be analyzed to determine findings, goals, and objectives for the District.

Completion of the process is set for the spring of the 2025-26 school year. The information will then be presented to the Board of Education and released to the public in a Strategic Plan report when the process is complete.

The Colby School District is partnering with Illinois-based Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates (HYA) to conduct the strategic planning process.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.