Strategic Planning Meeting scheduled for September 14

GURLEY, DALTON (September 12) -- The public is invited to a community meeting Thursday, Sept. 14, to discuss what the Leyton Schools could look like in the future.

The Strategic Planning Meeting and dinner will be held at Leyton High School 7:30 p.m. 

Superintendent Matt McLaughlin said there are many reasons for the community to be proud of its school. The Thursday meeting is an opportunity to look at how to make the schools better. The meeting will have four primary areas of discussion: 1. identify the points of pride, accomplishments and achievements of Leyton Public Schools; 2. identify the challenges that currently impact or may impact the Leyton Public Schools; 3. what more can the district do to attract students/families to the area to grow enrollment; and 4. identify what you believe are the most important areas the district might focus on to improve learning opportunities and facilities and grounds.

"We want to get a lot of points and pride within our community so we can say 'these are the pillars and strength within Leyton Public Schools.' I think we'll have a lot of different things people are proud of," McLaughlin said today.

He said he would like to see Leyton schools offering programs "just as good or better" than area schools.

"We're looking for people that will provide information on how we can get better as a school. If it's not just academics, if it's athletics in there, if there's college and trades stuff in there ... that's what we're looking for," McLaughlin said.

He said he wants to develop reasons for students and families to stay in the district. McLaughlin said the hope is to collective enough data to design a plan and show how the school district will reach the goals.

"The reason why we wanted to do this is, Leyton has had a lot of different transitions within leadership. We've had some school board turnover, we've had some admin turnover, we've had some teacher turnover. When that happens, sometimes good initiatives that are good things get lost. With people here now and committed to Leyton Public Schools, we feel like it's a perfect time for us to get the tires muddy and getting some traction," McLaughlin said.