Caryn Shaw, from HYA (Hazard Young Attea Associates) was at the Cornwall Public Library – and other locations - several times last week to talk with community residents about the Cornwall Central School Districts ongoing strategic planning campaign. HYA is a consulting firm which helps school districts across the country plan for the coming three to five years.

“We engage with the school district’s stakeholders,” Shaw said to a group of about eight community residents, including some library staff, at the first of two sessions at the library last Friday morning. The previous night she’d been at a similar session at Cornwall Elementary School, where she said four people were in attendance.

HYA is working to get feedback to four different questions, she said:
- What do you think students need to know as a result of their time in district?
- What are the strengths of district?

She said that she and others from HYA aren’t taking names when they do their sessions, just the feedback provided. Friday’s sessions were geared toward senior citizens. In all, so far, Shaw said, HYA has conducted about 30 interviews with a total of about 75 individuals or groups within the district. That included school district students and staff.

“I’ve noticed that school pride is really a big part of this community,” Shaw, herself a former school board member in her home district, said, noting that the eventual findings will be presented at a CCSD Board of Education meeting.
The strategic planning survey is still available to take at cornwallschools.com/strategic-plan, and there is a virtual session planned for Wednesday, April 8 at 7 p.m. The link to that will also be on the website.

Shaw said the virtual session is likely to draw more residents to participate – “we tend to get people at virtual meetings these days.”

In addition to their in-district work, Shaw said that HYA will look at NYS Report Card data on the CCSD, as well as data generated in district. “We look at all data and come up with priorities and objectives that we’ll suggest specifically for this district,” she said. “We want everyone ‘rowing in the same direction’ when it comes to future planning.”

Before settling into answer her specific questions, the audience members at the library’s morning session had a couple of questions, like when was last time the CCSD did any strategic planning; what happens once the plan is done; do the goals that are developed going to cost taxpayers more; and is the school district obligated to do what the eventual report suggests?

To that, she said, no, but added it will likely serve as a guide for future planning. As to when the last one was done, former Board of Education President Nancy Bryan said that during her tenure on the BOE there was annual planning done but not long term like this is.

Shaw said that it will be in early summer that the strategic plan is presented to the BOE, and then the board will be responsible for putting an ‘action plan’ in place. That does not necessarily mean more tax dollars will be spent on those plans, she said, because the work the board members and administration may look to do might include in areas already built into the district’s budget, like student achievement or communication with the community.

Cornwall resident Greg Robie was at the meeting and said a concern of his going forward is how Artificial Intelligence will impact the school district. “I want that to be included in both school and library strategic plans,” he said.