On Dec. 11, 2023, Dr. Neil Gupta, announced his plan to form a vision for the district. With the new year, he has started to implement the plan, which intends to incorporate the community’s ideas into the changes. 

“I really hope people walk back and go, wow. Neil did a great job of taking the community’s vision and putting it into action,” Gupta said.

Gupta’s “One Oakwood” plan began with a quality profile, which will tell about what the community values and priorities are for the district. The district can use the profile to decide what plans to make for Oakwood going forward. 

“What [the quality profile] is to a district is what are the what are the priorities? What does the community care about? So, you know, what I’ve gleaned is the idea of the story about Oakwood, what makes Oakwood special, and what makes it shine, is our academics,” Gupta said.

Another way Gupta is getting community input is through his coffee chats. These are discussions with community members that will help Gupta gain insight into what needs to be done in the district. 

“We just had our first one [Jan. 11]; we had five people there. I’m actually happy with that. You know, you don’t know what to expect. I’m happy we had a great deep conversation with the five people. [Coffee chat] dates are published so you know, I would welcome more people to come,” Gupta said. 

In February, the district will continue the chats and send out a community survey which will ask people about different school topics. This hopes to give Gupta and the district further information from the community. 

The survey will ask different questions on school related issues and the district will use these responses to figure out what areas in the school district are strong and what areas are weaker. Gupta is planning to use this data to issue a State of the Schools Address. In the address, he will share the communities strengths and weaknesses based on the data collected through the coffee chats and the survey in February. 

Using the results from the surveys and coffee chats, Gupta will make a strategic plan with the help of an advisory board made up of different community members. 

“What’s going to eventually happen around March, April, May, is we’re going to put together a strategic plan for our district to come together. So we’ll get community members. We’ll get some students on this advisory board that’s going to help us create kind of a strategic plan that’s going to help us figure out what our vision is for the future,” Gupta said. 

Gupta’s plan is underway with coffee chats once a month. Gupta hopes to start forming the plan around March to May 2024.  Want to attend a coffee chat? Check out the dates on the superintendent’s blog.