NEW HARTFORD — The New Hartford Central School District recently asked its stakeholders to answer a survey to define where they feel the district is doing well ... and where they might see opportunities for improvement.

That information will now give the school’s Board of Education data they will use to develop the district’s first-ever five-year strategic plan. District Superintendent Cosimo Tangorra, Jr. stressed right from the start that the plan would not be recommended by him — it would come from the concerns of district residents.

“This is their school district and we want everyone to feel like they are valued members of our school community,” Tangorra said. “The final plan should be reflective of what they hold dear and what’s important to students and their families, staff members and our taxpayers.”

The collaboration of information will make creating the strategic plan a true team effort for the benefit of all, he explained.

“We need to all be on the same page and have common defined goals so that we can work together to best support our students and staff as they pursue success,” Tangorra said.

The district used ThoughtExchange, an online platform allowing participants to respond to an open-ended question. Responses were confidential. There were two exchanges, one for district staff and the other for parents, students, community members, business owners and higher education officials.

The staff exchange included 313 participants with 131 thoughts. There were 6,200 ratings on those thoughts. The community exchange included 629 participants with 316 thoughts. There were 12,385 ratings on those thoughts. Summary reports of both the staff exchange and the community exchange are available online through the district’s website at www.newhartfordschools.org.

Among the topics noted in the survey responses as paramount were communication, facilities, staff contract negotiations and the school environment. Tangorra admitted having no preconceived notions as to what responses would come in through the survey, so there were no surprises.

“I endeavored not to make assumptions or to hypothesize what the results would be,” Tangorra said.

The district is currently in contract negotiations with the New Hartford Employees Union, and many of the responses and ratings addressed that topic. Many of the comments made were related to the unsettled contract and not specific to the question asked, but they were still important as they are on those stakeholders’ minds.

The staff exchange helped the district identify four potential strategic plan goals: academics and professional development; communication and collaboration; school environment/social-emotional learning (SEL) connections; and facilities.

The feedback from the community exchange identified five potential goals: academics; communication and collaboration; SEL connections; facilities; and student voice.

A final five-year plan is expected to be adopted this winter. Once adopted, that plan will guide the board of education in making decisions that fit the priorities of concern to the district’s residents.

“We’ll now work closely with our strategic plan facilitators to delve into the ThoughtExchange feedback, which will help us outline the bones of our strategic plan,” Tangorra explained. “We have already been able to identify several potential strategic plan goals, such as academics, communication, school environment and facilities.”