Creating a Mission Statement

A highlight of my week has been assisting the Person County Board of Education in re-creating its district mission, vision, values, and core beliefs statements. We actually began our task last month by talking about the big picture. We then bore down on mission.  Mission is synonymous with purpose. Why exactly does this public school district, or any district, exist and what does it want to accomplish?

That question led to more questions. Why did the board perceive a need to change what it already had? Whose interests would be served by new statements? What's different in or about the county since the last statements were written? What's new and different in the world comparing then to now? 

In my experience, the actual crafting of new mission and vision statements is the easy part. What's hard is the conversations that lead up to it. This board is exceptional. In fact, Person County board members unanimously admitted that neither their nor any county in North Carolina is confronted by the same challenges today as it was yesterday. That admission opened a floodgate of conversation.

They talked openly about moving from a manufacturing-based to a knowledge-based economy and of competition for jobs not from the next county but from the next continent. They talked about the need for developing in their graduates self-respect, adaptability, and critical thinking skills. They talked about valuing its teachers, administrators, and staff as if they too were customers.

At the same time, board members had to admit that large numbers in their parent community were unaware that business as usual was no longer good enough. Old tapes are hard to erase. But here's the dilemma: If parents are truly unaware of the kind of education required for success in a changing world, how do you give them what they need as opposed to what they want? 

I suspect that Person County is not alone that dilemma.The good news, however, is that the board not only created an elegant 13-word mission statement but, by avoiding the usual and useless verbiage of political correctness, it tells the community that the community itself is responsible for the mission of its schools. Brilliant.