Consultant Jan Williams (far right) leads Future Search participants through discussion of the draft strategic plan.

Nearly two-thirds of the 63 participants in the Portsmouth school "Future Search" conference reconvened on Wednesday night at Hathaway School to review the draft strategic plan that was the synthesis of their two days of work back in January. (See previous coverage here, here, and here.)

"This is the most participants who have ever gotten back together from any conference I've ever run," facilitator Jan Williams told the assembled group of parents, community group representatives, local businesspeople, and school staff members.

People arrived with draft copies of the strategic plan — created by a working group from the Future Search report, informed by the Berkshire Associates performance audit, survey input from all students grades 6-12, and sanity-checked by representatives from the school department.

While it would be premature to talk about the content — the purpose of the session was to provide feedback to the 13-member working group to assist in finalizing the draft — it is safe to say that the document provides both an overarching vision as well as specific, timed deliverables.

"This plan is a way to say to the community, 'This is what we need and this is what it takes to support this effort,'" said Williams.

The group spent the first part of the evening discussion what they liked about the draft, and participants said that it was comprehensive, data-driven and measurable, aggressive, inclusive of many stakeholders in the community, and that it accurately reflected the work of the Future Search workshop. (I will be upfront about my bias: I very much liked the fact that there was a clear stake in the ground about getting technology in the classrooms.)

When you do "plusses," you also need to do "deltas," and for the rest of the night, the group explored some of the questions that the report raised. Some were semantic (how to best word the main propositions), some tactical (what is the grade to start introducing foreign language) and some were communication-related (a suggestion to add a one-page executive summary up front.) There were some great suggestions, like having a big "thermometer" sign in town to reflect progress, having concrete actions that participants can take out to community groups to help them get involved, and coordinating the strategic plan with other ongoing efforts like the facilities committee.

And, of course, the question came up of how to fund anything strategic when the schools are in such a tight fiscal regime.

Williams acknowledged the reality, and urged the group to use the strategic plan as a way to involve Portsmouth in a discussion about education. "What I came away [from the Future Search] with was sense of the interest everyone had in healing the community and standing together for the school system and what you want for your students," she said. "This is work that is owned by the parents and community — owned by the people in this room. I don't think you can expect the administration to be driving the process around healing the community. That's not their job. YOU are responsible for your community."

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the end of the meeting to go cover the Water Board election, so I don't know when the final draft of the report will be issued. But you can bet it will spark some interesting and fruitful discussions.

Disclaimer: I am an appointed member of the Facilities Committee.