Parents, community members, and school staff from the tri-town are invited to be a part of the school districts’ strategic plan development for Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester schools.

Input is appreciated as the development plan will set the course for the direction and vision of the schools for the next five years.

John Kennedy from the New England School Development Council has been hired to help with the process.

The process that the district will follow in developing the plan is to first gather information about the schools from Thursday, Sept. 19 focus groups with student leaders and from senior citizens at each of the Councils for Aging as well as from multiple data sources.

A Strategic Planning Workshop will meet on Sept. 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the ORR cafeteria.

At this workshop, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee will meet and Kennedy will show a profile of the present state of the districts.

Those electing to be part of the process will take part in one of several focus groups that will take place on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Focus groups will meet from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m, from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m., and from 11 a.m. to noon at various locations throughout the three towns.

Community members can be a part of the strategic planning process and find out where the focus groups meet by e-mailing Diana Russo at drusso@orr.mec.edu.

The groups will discuss the elements needed for higher quality education at the schools and the major challenges the districts face.

On Saturday afternoon, the steering committee will use the results of the focus groups to develop four to five district strategic planning goals, which the schools administration will complete. These goals will serve the schools for the next five years.

Questions about this process can be directed to Dr. Elise Frangos, assistant superintendent at 508-758-2772, ext 1963.