Dear Families,

When you were a student, did you ever dream of attending the “perfect school?” What did it look like? What kinds of things did you learn or study? Maybe it was the budding teacher in me, but I always dreamed of what school COULD be as a child. During these next few weeks, we would like to invite you to participate in dreaming and planning together what Long Beach Public Schools could be! This fall, we will be drafting a Five-Year Strategic Plan that the Board of Education will finalize and adopt in January. The purpose of the plan is to examine where we are now and chart a path to where we would like to be in five years. The Strategic Plan will allow us to set high-level goals that will govern our main priorities.

During the next month, I am going to send you three emails inviting you to participate in something called Thought Exchange. This online platform will allow you to give input into some high-level questions (like “What are our strengths as a District?” “What programs, activities, or classes should we think about adding in order to better engage and prepare our students?) You’ll have the opportunity to share your ideas, AND to “rate” the ideas of others. Maybe someone will have an idea that you didn’t think of, but think is a great possibility. At the end of all this, we will get a good picture of our top priorities. We will be giving this survey to our middle school and high school students as well (same questions that you receive), and will publicize it for input from the community-at-large, and our alumni (so feel free to forward it to anyone whom you think is interested in participating).

I will send the first email tomorrow for the first Thought Exchange questions. It’s super easy to use (and is available in multiple languages), so just jump right in. I will send three separate emails, each with different questions over the next month. Thanks so much for dreaming with us, and helping us to plan the best possible schools for our children!

Watch for that email tomorrow!

Dr. Jennifer Gallagher
Superintendent of Schools

Date Added: 9/29/2022