After months of wait and debate, the Evesham Township Public School District has its new mission statement.
The statement reads as follows:
“In partnership with students, dedicated staff, families, and community, the district provides a strong educational foundation that will empower our students to:
• Achieve their unique potential
• Embrace self-directed, life-long learning
• Develop the skills necessary for appropriate risk-taking and responsible decision-making
• Respect themselves and others
• Problem-solve individually and collaboratively
• Become contributing members of a diverse, global society”
A previous version of the statement was scheduled for a vote at the board’s Feb. 27 meeting, but board member Dave Silver proposed tabling the statement for further review, arguing not all board members were present for that meeting, and requesting the district’s public relations consultant also review the statement before final adoption. A majority of the board members present at that February meeting agreed with Silver, and the statement was tabled until the most recent April meeting.
Although the board members disagreed about approving the statement at that February meeting, all were in agreement on approving the mission district’s new tagline, “Evesham Township School District, making the world a better place one student at a time,” which was created by a district student.
The district’s desire for a new mission statement and tagline could been seen as stretching as far back as the spring of 2012, when the district first started its planning process to create a broad set of directions and goals for the district for the next six years (2012–2017).
That Goals 2017 plan was then finalized and approved in March 2013, with one of the goals being the creation of a new dis trict mission statement.
The district then solicited volunteers for a Visioning Committee, made up of interested parents, teachers and administrative officials who would hold meetings to review and provide input on the district’s new mission statement.
As outlined in the Goals 2017 plan, through the summer and fall of 2013, and winter of 2014, the Visioning Committee was tasked with evaluating the then current ETSD mission statement and how it aligned to district values, reviewing literature and examining the mission statements of other school districts and finally crafting a draft of a new district mission statement that would reflect core ETSD values and educational excellence.
When the new statement was officially adopted by the Evesham Township Board of Education during its April 16 board meeting, there was still debate left to be had. Board member Sandy Student, who was one of the board members not present at the February meeting, raised his own concerns regarding the statement. He said he realized people put many of hours of work into the proposed mission statement, but recommended that the board wants a brief statement of only a few sentences that embodied the points the committee determined were most important.
“The simpler the message, the easier it is to communicate, the easier it is to assimilate on the part of your audience, and the easier it is to fulfill that pledge,” Student said. “I know we’re not selling cars or consumer electronics or grapefruit or anything of that nature or oranges, but the goal is to make something simple and to make it easy to remember and to splash everywhere.”
Board member Lisa Mansfield said Student had previously raised his concerns of brevity before at past meetings, which were addressed by the board’s adoption of the tagline.
“I remember you being really for the brand line, the tagline, which we do have, which we voted on at our last meeting. We do have one line,” she said.
Superintendent John Scavelli said the process for creating the statement lasted more than two years and didn’t believe it needed much more discussion.
“I don’t agree with what Mr. Student presented you this evening,” Scavelli said. “He was on the original committee and had ample time to give us feedback.”
When the board approved the mission statement, it did so 7–1, with Student voting against.
