Independence Local Schools adopts new strategic vision 

by Laura Bednar

Feb. 18 board of education meeting

The Independence Local Schools’ vision is to create “a legacy of excellence” as part of its new strategic plan.

The strategic plan is the result of meetings and discussions with students, staff, community members and the board of education. In October 2024, Superintendent Kelli Cogan said 18 diverse groups met in the city’s Civic Center to discuss defining moments in the district and the future of the schools. Through the fall, the strategic vision committee identified trends in the community responses. Goals were determined in December, and a large stakeholder team met in January to finalize the plan.

Cogan noted that the goal is for the district to be a led by the strategic plan as opposed to a bureaucracy model with a few leaders making decisions about the district. 

“The idea is not to have a district based on who is in the superintendent role,” she said, adding that the strategic vision should be the guiding document for anyone in an administrative role.

Independence Primary School Principal T.J. Ebert said the strategic visioning committee reviewed the image of the school and how people see students, teachers, principals and their roles.

The strategic vision has four points: empower the whole child development, design valuable experiences and work, align resources and knowledge for collaborative growth, and create an inclusive and welcoming community environment.

The district belief statements are:

• Create an environment where student voice drives actions and fosters engagement.
• Inspire and empower students to achieve personal and academic growth.
• Make purposeful decisions that prioritize student success through transparency, innovation and community involvement.
• Seek, develop and share knowledge to ensure strong partnerships among the district, families and school community.

Cogan said the principals of each school shared an overview of the vision with teachers to gauge their responses. Of the respondents, 75% felt the plan reflected the values and goals of the school community very well, 21.88% thought somewhat well and 3.13% were neutral. 

When asked if the plan was supportive of staff work, 71.88% said it was very supportive, 21.88% said somewhat supportive and 3.13% were neutral. Common questions from teachers were: What will the plan look like operationally? What do they change in the classroom? What are their responsibilities under this plan?

The board unanimously approved the district’s vision. Board Vice President Carrie Sears asked if the district plans to tackle all four goals at once. Cogan said yes, and that different groups may start with different goals, depending on current strengths and weaknesses.

Board member Lynne Laski said the work behind creating this vision was more interactive than previous strategic planning committees in the district. Board President Katie Hill agreed, saying the vision was “a breath of fresh air.”

Board member Ron Bernstein said he would be interested to compare the plan with other area districts and pull and share ideas to “make a stronger regional education area.”

The next step is to communicate the plan to the community.

Vouchers

With a 4-1 vote, the board voted to join the lawsuit against the state through the Vouchers Hurt Ohio Initiative of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding.

Cogan reiterated that it is not a public versus private school issue, but rather that “the government is not funding the schools constitutionally.” Money from the department of education is being used to offer vouchers for students to attend private schools, depleting overall resources for school districts. Cogan said this puts the burden of school funding on the backs of the taxpayers.

“It looks better the more districts you have supporting [the lawsuit],” said Cogan.

This was part of the reason for Sears’ dissenting vote to join the lawsuit. She questioned why several hundred school districts in the state had yet to join. She also asked if there is any money to be won by joining the lawsuit. Cogan said they don’t know, and Treasurer Jennifer Knapp said the premise of the suit is to protect the funds the state has.

Hill supported the suit saying it was her responsibility to ensure Independence is getting the money due. “I want to be able to say we looked in every other place before we went to [taxpayers],” she said.

Board member Tony Avila added that this has been ongoing since the 1990s, and the district doesn’t get much help from the outside. “If we don’t fight for ourselves, who will fight for us?” he said. 

It cost the district $2 per student, or $2,000 to join the suit. Cogan said the board must vote to approve another payment each year the lawsuit continues.

She added that state legislators wanted students and teachers to write letters about public schools and their importance to bolster the funding argument. Independence recently completed a letter-writing campaign.

In other news 

In response to a shortage of school bus drivers, the district is offering a $2,000 recruiting bonus for district employees that recruit new drivers. Assistant Superintendent Tom Dreiling said there are currently two drivers in training.Avila was to be recognized at an Ohio School Boards Association event in March for 10 years of service on a school board.