HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – As summer vacation continues, school districts along the Lakeshore are getting ready for a new year ahead.
The Holland Board of Education called a special meeting last night, a four-hour session devoted primarily to “strategic planning,” according to Superintendent Brian Davis. “Strategic planning is really a process of discovery,” Dr. Davis explained during an interview on “WHTC Morning News” today. “It’s a process of being able to look at our graduates today and project that 12 to 15 years for the skills that are going to be needed and what we want our graduates to look like, how are they going to be contributing members of our community in what we know will be a diverse and ever-changing world. It is a time for us to be excited about innovation, to bring forward those best practices from the past. It also involves a great deal of listening and communication, being able to gather input from a variety of stakeholders representing our community.”
Besides the strategic planning session, the Holland Board approved the hiring of LeeAnn Stephan as the new principal of Jefferson Elementary School. She replaces Maria Yoder, who retired at the end of the just-completed 2018 Academic Year. The board also filled a vacancy on its own panel, swearing in Mike McKay at the onset of the session.
During his Wednesday interview on WHTC, Dr. Davis also mentioned the arrival of Dr. Karen Sherwood as the new Deputy Superintendent. “She will largely be in charge of human resources,” he said, “but also oversee many of the operations of the district, including transportation, food service, grounds and facilities, and a number of areas that are critical to our functioning.”
Dr. Sherwood comes from Kalkaska, where she had been that district’s superintendent for three and a half years before resigning last December. “It has become apparent that a strained relationship exists between certain members of the current board of education and me,” she said in her resignation letter to the board in that community. “During the last couple of years, the role and responsibilities of certain board members have crossed the lines with the role and duties of the superintendent.”
Classes at Holland Public Schools begin before Labor Day for a third straight year, with students beckoned in on August 23rd. Open houses are planned for August 20th, with more information at the district’s website.
