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After more than a year of work, the Albert Lea school board on Monday approved the new strategic roadmap for the district for the next few years.

The roadmap covers everything from the district’s mission to its core values, vision and strategic directions and how it plans to achieve various desired outcomes.

Albert Lea Superintendent Ron Wagner said he had heard some feedback about one possible change to the plan from a board member since the last meeting, which was to add “transparency” to one of the strategic directions. The part that was modified now states: “Improving efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and safety in district facilities, operations and performance evaluation.”

School board member Gary Schindler said he recently read a Minnesota school board article about some of the core things districts should be focusing on, and he was affirmed to see that Albert Lea is on the right track with much of what is in the roadmap.

School board Chairwoman Kim Nelson said she also thought “transparency” was a good addition.

Under the roadmap, the district’s mission is “to ensure individual academic, social and emotional growth that leads to engaged citizens and lifelong learners.”

The core values include respect, integrity, compassion, collaboration, excellence and always learning, and the plan includes definitions formed by the board for each value.

The vision is “inspiring learners and cultivating growth to positively impact our community,” with the following strategic directions:

• Amplify student learning, ensuring they are well-prepared for classroom and career transitions.
• Foster a learning environment that prioritizes academic success, mental and emotional well-being and inclusivity.
• Supporting staff in personal and professional growth to add value to a healthy culture to promote collaboration, accountability and retention in our educational community.
• Improving efficiency, effectiveness and safety in district facilities, operations and performance evaluation.
• Building purposeful partnerships with families to support student engagement and learning.

The planning process incorporated not only the board but staff, parents, students and community members, too, and was under the direction of a consultant firm called TeamWorks International.

In other action, the board:

• Voted 5-2 to approve a series of updated policies, many of which coincided with changes or additions in state statute. The policies dealt with school bus transportation, extracurricular transportation, equal educational opportunity, school district curriculum and instruction goals, curriculum development, instruction curriculum, library materials, graduation requirements, system accountability, credit for learning and online instruction. Some of the changes included the addition of an ethnic studies course for graduation and the removal of a civics test requirement.

The board members voted on the changes for all the policies at once with board members Angie Hoffman and David Klatt voting  against. Hoffman said she had three of the policies she wanted to vote against but otherwise gave no additional reasonings.

• Gave updates from the recent Minnesota School Board Association conference and sessions they attended.
• Voted to move the school board meeting from March 4 to March 7.
• Voted 5-2 on the Albert Lea Education Association master agreement for 2023-25. The agreement included updated language for Early Childhood Family Education and Adult Basic Learning staff to reflect recent statutory changes.  Additionally, it included a 6% increase in the first year on the base salary and a 2.45% increase in the second year of the agreement, according to the district.