The members of the Wooster City Schools board of education are seeking feedback from the public on a draft Vision Statement its members intend to use as a guide as they face the fiscally challenging times that lie ahead.

A draft of the Vision Statement was released to the public during the board’s March 22 meeting.

“As a board we are acutely aware of the challenges facing us to continue to move this district forward,” said Jim Barnard, board president. “We very much believe that it is important that we communicate our vision for a sustainable future for the Wooster City School District.”

“This document is meant to outline what we think are four key focus areas that are crucial in determining our success,” said Barnard, noting that the four areas include K-12 academic achievement, fiscal sustainability, facility utilization and district staffing.

“It is our belief that the document will help us guide our decision making as we look to develop a high achieving, fiscally sustainable district.”

According to Barnard, the Vision Statement contains a “plan to ensure the district remains a fiscally responsible and sustainable destination school district that attracts the best students and staff.”

One of the district’s main K-12 academic goals is to achieve an Excellent rating on the state of Ohio’s report card in 2011.

In addition to academic achievement, fiscal sustainability is one of the four main areas of focus in the Vision Statement.

“We believe that to be fiscally responsible to the public…we need to take the levy that we currently have through 2017,” said Barnard.

The draft document itself lays out five main paths to fiscal sustainability, including “respect the taxpayers of our community, remain a destination school district for the best students and staff, continually review and manage non-personnel costs, identify and implement shared opportunities with surrounding districts and ensure personnel corresponds with current and future enrollment.”

The third major focus area is facility utilization.

“We think our facilities create an opportunity to really accelerate learning. At the same time, it’s going to be a challenging change potentially,” said Barnard.

The draft document states that “the district could see significant cost savings either through redistricting, reorganizing grade levels or closing additional schools” but goes on to specifically note that “no plans to redistrict, reorganize grade levels or close a building have been made” and that the board “will continue to look at options to ensure our number of buildings correspond to student enrollment and are cost-effective to maintain and operate.”

The final area of focus is staffing levels, which according to the draft document consumes 85 percent of the district’s budget.

The document goes on to say that the board will remain “proactive to ensure that our staff reflects the true needs of our district, both academically and administratively.”

“There is a lot more to get flushed out around how we stay proactive on staffing with some of the fiscal challenges that we’ve got,” observed Barnard.

The board expects to adopt the final version of the Vision Statement at its April 26 regular meeting.

Between now and then Barnard asked his colleagues “to seek input from the public…to see if this is on the mark or there are course corrections that we need to make.”

The proposed draft of the Vision Statement can be found on the district’s website under the board of education tab.

Public comments can be submitted to the district by e-mail at info@woostercityschools.org.