EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. — Dozens of community members gathered Thursday, Jan. 29, at Excelsior Springs High School to take part in the second step of the district’s strategic planning process, a work session intended to move a new Comprehensive School Improvement Plan from broad goals to specific action.
Speaking to the crowd in the commons, Ben Rubey said the purpose of strategic planning is to set a direction that goes beyond maintaining current routines.
“Everyone in this room wants better,” Rubey said. “Strategic planning is planning towards an aspiration.”
Rubey said the district’s challenge is identifying the difference between where it is now and where it wants to be.
“If you look where we are and where we want to go, there is a gap,” he said. “So what our task and what our charge is, is to figure out and fill that gap from where we are to where we want to be.”
The district’s strategic planning leadership team met for about three days in December to draft an executive summary for the 2026–2031 plan. That packet outlines beliefs, a mission statement, parameters, objectives, and five major strategies.
The plan’s mission statement says the district will focus on “working together to explore passions and pursue opportunities for all learners through high-quality education and community collaboration.” The district motto remains, “Inspire, Empower, Challenge.”
Rubey described the “beliefs” section of the packet as the district’s shared values, developed through consensus. The written beliefs include commitments such as providing safe learning environments, centering learning on student needs supported by strong relationships, and emphasizing honesty, integrity, and transparency.
He also pointed to the plan’s “parameters,” which he described as the district’s nonnegotiable boundaries, a set of “always” and “never” statements meant to guide decisions as strategies are turned into action.
“The parameters are kind of the guardrails,” Rubey said. “These are the limitations the district will place on itself for good reason.” He compared them to out-of-bounds lines in sports, a way to signal when a proposal goes too far, or when it does not go far enough to match the district’s stated commitments.
The executive summary lists several “we will always” and “we will never” statements, including commitments to always be respectful, never tolerate hurtful behavior, never limit a student’s potential because of assumptions or labels, consider the needs of staff, be good stewards of district resources, and keep students at the center of all decisions.
From there, the plan identifies long-term objectives, which Rubey described as stretch targets.
“These are kind of your pie in the sky, kind of big things that we want for the district,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that if we don’t get there, we won’t achieve success.”
The executive summary lists four objectives:
- Every student will graduate with the knowledge, skills, and character necessary to become a productive, informed, confident, and engaged citizen.
- Every student will experience a year or more of academic growth annually.
- Increase the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state academic performance standards annually.
- By 2031, 90% of students at both the district and building levels will achieve an attendance rate above 90%.
Rubey said the leadership team also reviewed internal and external data to identify critical issues facing the district, and then used that analysis to shape five strategies intended to guide work over the next five years:
Strategy 1: Instruction and academic achievement
Strategy 2: Community relations and partnerships
Strategy 3: Quality staff, retention, and recruitment
Strategy 4: Facilities and operations
Strategy 5: Well-being
Rubey emphasized that the work now shifts to community action teams, which will translate each strategy into detailed action plans.
“The strategic planning team has laid the groundwork for the concept of what the school district will become,” he said. “The action team is going to describe how to make that concept a reality.”
Rubey said the action plans will include timelines and a cost-benefit analysis to help the district allocate resources. He also said the process will require difficult choices, including what he called “strategic retirement.”
“There’s always so much time and resources in a day that the district has,” he said. “There’s going to be some things that we need to stop doing. We’re not looking to simply add things. We’re looking to replace to be more efficient.”
After Rubey’s presentation, attendees broke into subgroups aligned to the five strategies. Each group had administrative co-leaders and a designated meeting room. Rubey told participants the groups will work over roughly 11 to 12 weeks, with flexibility in how often each team meets.
Rubey said action team leaders are expected to present draft action plans near the end of April, with the goal of returning the work to the district strategic planning team and ultimately the Excelsior Springs Board of Education for review.
Rubey encouraged participants to think forward and include a range of perspectives.
“We’re writing diverse perspectives to a common focus,” he said. “You don’t have to be a school person to want good for schools.”
Residents who were unable to attend Thursday’s session but still want to participate can still get involved by contacting the school district and asking to be connected to one of the strategy action teams.
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