Power, Governance, and Education:
The Reality, Strengths, and Incongruities of District Strategic Planning in Poudre School District
A Photo Essay
Andrew Dutch
EDFN 7420 - Foundations of Education in Urban and Diverse Communities
Dr. Margarita Bianco
University of Colorado Denver
December 2023
Presentation of PSD’s Strategic Plan by the Principal to staff at Fort Collins High School.
A strategic plan is more than a document. It is the physical and symbolic embodiment of an organization’s values and priorities. In the context of public education, a strategic plan exists as a commitment to ensuring all students and stakeholders are offered some extent of success relative to a selection of goals.
The layout of this photo essay is an evaluation of Poudre School Districts steps towards addressing its strategic priorities. In some ways, PSD is making admirable efforts. In others, it is constrained by many of the same incongruities as outlined in the Literature Review assignment. The three strategic priorities of PSD’s strategic plan are Graduating With Options, Mental Health and Belonging, and Literacy.
As a preface to each section, the published materials currently available on Poudre School District’s Strategic Plan website are listed. Vagueness and immeasurability should be noted here. In spite of this, each section still contains some photos of standout stakeholders (district staff, educators, and students) taking it upon themselves to create the change that PSD has promised from a systemic orientation. In seeking to fix organizational incongruities, district executive leadership must understand and consider the real humans behind its work and how its ability (or failure) to address these priorities affects staff and student alike.
The “enthusiastic” reception of the strategic plan by the staff at Fort Collins High School.
These photos detail that PSD understands the social constraints impacting the mental health of its families and students.
Who is represented in these photos as being addressed by PSD mental health and belonging initiatives? Do they match the communities who are identified in the previous photos?
These next two photos show how PSD is addressing mental health. Are these the most pressing matters to address, and the most helpful of methodologies?
From our Nov. 11th Professional Development Training centered on inclusivity. This was the totality of the presentation.
Peer Counselor training session occurring district-wide.
A photo from our Staff Equity Coalition Meeting.
PSD welcoming New Teachers/Staff at the 2023 New Teacher/Staff Orientation Day.
A quantitative measure of PSD's and its School Board's educational priorities through its distribution of required credits for graduation.
One of the strongest current initiatives in PSD: Career and Technical Education (CTE). Consider what subjects are missing? What has sorting students into pathways historically caused?
The following four photos detail where millions of dollars towards CTE have been devoted: PSD's FutureReady initiative and building.
Students showcasing their work in CTE-related areas.
PSD has published the least materials on its progress towards literacy. It also only advertises and promotes literacy in elementary contexts.
Consider the unspoken message delivered by the diversity/demographics displayed in literacy photos compared to mental health materials.
Interdisciplinary literacy is understated in PSD. What does it mean to be a literate artist? Musician? Engineer?
Language holds power. Students here are participating in a school-wide walk in support and solidarity of MLK and the continued work in social justice related issues on January 16th, 2023.
From a pedagogical standpoint, how is literacy to be learned? Solely from reading?