Superintendent Dr. Romain Dallemand expressed a need to challenge the current way of thinking during the second of the District's sessions to plan and develop the Macon Miracle, Bibb County's Strategic Plan, on Monday, October 10, at the Macon Centreplex. A different way of thinking and a commitment to the District's goals, he said, will help build a new system that will be the No. 1 school district not only in the state, but in the nation.
"Today is a day that will give us the opportunity to live into our legacies. Today is not a day to be realistic," Dr. Dallemand said, "because it is realistic to accept that school districts will only educate some of their kids, some of their students."
"Today is a day to think different," he continued. "If we dream something, if we picture something, if we commit ourselves to it, we can bend the universe and demand it to become true."
District employees and community stakeholders work together during the
Strategic Planning session on Monday, October 10.
View videos, presentations and more photos at www.bibb.k12.ga.us.
The Strategic Planning session was part of an initiative to envision the future of the District. As with the first Strategic Planning session on September 19, Dr. Dallemand invited more than 4,500 parents, community and business leaders, politicians, faith-based representatives, and all District employees to be a part of the process.
After a brief presentation by Dr. Dallemand, facilitators worked with participants in breakout sessions to begin determining broad ideas for setting the direction of how the District will move forward. Participants were split into six groups based on statements that were generated during the first Strategic Planning session, or the Discovery and Dream phases of the process. The six groups of focus included Experiential and Relevant Learning, Student Focus, Teacher Focus, Parents and Community, Structure of the School, and Technology.
"We talked about how we could restructure the schools to help our children want to stay in and not drop out, and help them reach their goals and graduate," said Sydney Scott, a first-grade teacher at Alexander II Math and Science Magnet School of her first group session. Scott participated in the Structure of the School and Parents and Community groups.
Scott also said she could see how Monday's session tied directly into and built upon the work of the first session.
"I felt that our last session was very broad in general and I was pleased to see that they took all of those big, general ideas and did narrow the focus," Scott said. "I felt much more productive today because I was starting to see the picture - the 30,000-foot picture that he spoke about. I'm hoping with the next step, we will actually talk about the details and how we are going to make this happen."
Bianca Killings, a fourth-grade teacher at Riley Elementary School who participated in the Experiential and Relevant Learning and Structure of the School groups, also felt Monday's focused sessions were beneficial.
"Not only are we taking what we talked about in the first session, which is what we want to see happen, we're actually designing and planning, and getting ready to implement it," she said.
The Strategic Planning process will continue with smaller sessions on November 11 and December 21 within each school and department.
To be unveiled in January 2012, the Strategic Plan will guide the change and improvement needed during the next few years in order to ensure all children receive a high-quality education that will prepare them to be competitive and successful in a global economy.
"This plan - the Macon Miracle - will help Bibb County, will help all of us to focus our effort on the right things. We must believe in our students, we must believe in ourselves. We can make a difference, we must make a difference and we will make a difference," Dr. Dallemand said when wrapping up Monday's session. "This Macon Miracle - this Strategic Plan - will change the direction of our county."
To view pictures from the event, go to the District's Strategic Planning page. Pictures are also available on the District's Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/bibbschools. If you took pictures during the event and would like them featured, e-mail them to
communications@bibb.k12.ga.us. Please identify who is in each picture.
