By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City School System will look to outline all of its goals for the future over the next few months as it works with a consulting firm to form the system’s first comprehensive plan.

Over the next few months, the Alabaster Board of Education will work with Marcia Burke, owner of Marcia Burke Enterprises, to create the city school system’s first comprehensive strategic plan.

The School Board voted during its Jan. 12 meeting to enter into a contract with Burke, who recently helped to form Pelham City Schools’ strategic plan, to help formulate the ACS plan.

Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers said Burke made a presentation to School Board members during their daylong retreat on Jan. 10, and said the board was impressed with Burke’s ideas.

Over the next few months, Burke will work with school system stakeholders to help formulate the comprehensive plan, which Vickers said will guide the system’s future.

“We will kick this off now and end it in May,” Vickers said. “The plan will take all of the components – Your capital plan, your instructional plan, human resources, your finances – and link them all to a single vision or mission.”

Although the plan and will guide the system’s future actions, the document will not be written in stone, Vickers said.

“It will be a living document,” Vickers said, noting the plan will outline benchmarks the system should strive for while working to attain its goals. “I think it’s good for the community to see those measurable goals for the future.”

Vickers and School Board President Adam Moseley said the strategic planning process also will coincide with the system seeking accreditation from the AdvancEd nationwide accreditation agency.

As part of the accreditation process, ACS is completing a self-assessment to determine its strengths and areas in need of improvement. The self-assessment also will be used in forming the comprehensive plan.

“A lot of what we do with the comprehensive can be used in the accreditation process,” Moseley said. “We have a good idea of where we stand and where we want to go.”