Mission statements: Keep it focused and short -- or not

Eighth grader Tiana Dimas-Williams is poring over a list that includes these eight words and phrases: graduate, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and contribute to the common good.

Tiana’s  understanding of common good, she says, means “building character in students so in the future the society can be better.”

Many of the two dozen parents, teachers and school board members listening nod in agreement.

This volunteer group, the third to assemble, is laboriously critiquing a draft of a new mission statement for Harrison School District 2.

The old mission statement once was painted in bold letters on the wall and repeated at board meetings by specially chosen students after the pledge of allegiance. It’s gone, obliterated by a fresh coat of burnt orange paint.

Still, School Board president Deborah Hendrix can recite it by heart.

“I think it’s the first time in more than 20 years we painted this room, and that is the last time we updated the mission statement,” Hendrix said.

A mission statement is more than a decorative touch.

“It’s important for any organization to state what they are in business for and a school district is no different. It requires everyone to put some skin in the game,” Hendrix said. The new mission statement will reflect D-2’s emphasis on college and career readiness.

Many other districts are creating new statements or revising ancient ones long ignored. It’s a reflection of how districts  see themselves more like businesses. Companies and non-profits traditionally have been most likely to have such statements. (Coca Cola Company’s mission, in part, is to “refresh the world.”)

The website missionstatements.com, warns, “Any entity that attempts to operate without a mission statement runs the risk of wandering through the world without having the ability to verify that it is on its intended course.”

School districts use mission statements for direction and inspiration, and also for such things as employment ads to give potential school administrators a clear idea of what the district expects. The statements are sometimes required when writing education grants.

There doesn’t seem to be rules on creating mission statements or the companion “vision” statement. Sometimes they are one in the same and are part of more detailed goals.

In the aftermath of Columbine shootings, a state law requires school boards to address safety concerns in their missions. Some put it right into their main statements, but most relegate it to other guiding documents.  

Douglas Brooks, a Miami University professor of education, on the website Hotchalk,  says vision statements are the big picture and should be easy to remember and short enough for a business card.  Mission statements tell how the vision will be carried out.  

But many school districts concentrate on just one statement, short or long. Others put them together in a substantial document.

“There are two camps. Some think the statement should be concise, other believe it should be more detailed,”  said Brad Stauffer, associate executive director of the Colorado Association of School Boards. Bottom line, he says, “They are guideposts.” CASB can help districts forge such documents. And yes, CASB has a mission statement, which Stauffer keeps on the wall by his desk.

It was difficult to whittle goals down to a few short sentences, noted Karin Reynolds, deputy superintendent of Academy School District 20. “But it is one of my favorite things to do. We usually work with details, concentrating on operations, and this is a chance to think about the big picture.”

D-20 started from scratch in creating  new mission and belief statements a couple of years ago, with help from 25  parents, students and community members.

“The challenge was to find perfect language.” They used a formal strategic planning model, breaking into small groups and  going through several drafts. The main idea was that the district provides for every student’s needs to help them become all they could be, including a responsible citizen of the world.

Lewis-Palmer School District 38 is going through the process now, also asking, parents, teachers and business leaders to weigh in.

“The question we are asking is what makes Lewis-Palmer Lewis-Palmer,” says Superintendent John Borman, who has been in the post since July. As a principal, he had worked on a refresher statement in 2007. Why an update now?  In general, older statements are owned by people long ago, he notes. “They are history, but may not reflect the same buy-in as needed today.”

He said this is an especially good time to look at the statements, with severe budget cuts of recent years.

“It reminds you of what is important for the district in making cuts and other decisions.”

Ellicott School District 22 board members want to have vision, mission and goals ready by next fall. After two school board recall efforts and other turmoil in the district, they see it as important to underline what the district wants to accomplish, said Board President Ernest Hudson. They will ask students, parents, teachers and staff for input. He’s not sure when the last one was worked on.

“It doesn’t reflect 2012 and beyond. We need to address 21st century learning,” Hudson said. “A beginning point would be a safe, relevant and rigorous education in an environment of caring and supportive relationships.”

Widefield School District 3  just put together a new mission statement in December, getting rid of one that had been in place decades. The new one, which it calls “Beliefs and Values,” will be on the agenda given to visitors at  board meetings, and posted in schools and district departments, where every employee can see it.

“Our last one was a short one liner: Maximize the learning of each and every student,”  said Board President Chris Velasquez reciting it by heart.

The new one will be a more difficult to commit to memory at nearly 150 words. It took about a year to get it just right.

Often new superintendents create new statements when they take the reins.

Cripple Creek-Victor School District RE1  has one seven words long: “Achieving excellence one student at a time.”

When Sue Holmes  became superintendent six years ago she felt it was an important task to complete. “Everything we do goes back to the mission statement so we wanted one that was short and easy to remember. Often these statements are long and vague and no one remembers them.”

Nicholas Gledich, superintendent of Colorado Springs School District 11 said the district lacked a unified business plan when he arrived in 2009 and so he created one, and wanted a blue print to incorporate philosophies and goals.

“If that isn’t done an organization risks not working in a unified direction,” he said. The staff and school board weighed in. It took two months to create mission, vision and value statements that showed their “commitment to the graduation handshake,” Gledich noted.

The mission and goals flows into the vision statement. And among those out there, it is quite poetic: “Every student prepared for a world yet to be imagined.”

The D-11 goals are printed on employee identification cards. And in a ritual that underlines commitment, new school board members sign a poster of the mission statement that hangs in the board room.

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Contact Carol McGraw: 636-0371 Twitter @mcgrawatgazette Facebook Carol McGraw