Tribune Staff

The mission of the Ironton City Schools, a system dedicated to excellence and community pride, is to provide a quality education assuring every student achieves his/her maximum potential, through a challenging curriculum provided by highly qualified, educated employees, in a safe environment, in partnership with parents and community:

As the mission statement above relays, the Ironton City School District plans to use as many minds possible as it

embarks on creating its strategic plan for the next five years.

At 7 p.m. Feb. 18, the school district will kick off its strategic plan, and, as Dean Nance,

Ironton High School principal and member of the strategic planning committee, said, "This strategic plan is what will 'drive' the district for the next five years. We need people to get involved. This is their opportunity."

We could not agree more. When it comes to schools, people often say they feel left out of the decision-making process, even though their children are the direct beneficiaries of the policies implemented. This is a chance for everybody who has a child or children in the Ironton School District to speak their mind.

Obviously, not every suggestion is going to be included in the plan, but even those ideas that are not embraced in full may have some substance that, when molded with other ideas, can make for an integral part of the plan. This is the best chance people have to express their opinion about the direction of the school district, and offer advice to its leaders as the plan is formulated.

When parents and the community are invited to take part in a school district's planning process, the invitation should be embraced with open arms. As the days of high-paying, non-skilled labor jobs are a thing of the past, it is essential for our children to get the best education possible. The more people the district can get involved the better chance the plan will succeed.

We encourage everyone in the Ironton School District to get involved in the strategic planning process. And, remember, the only bad idea is one that is not presented.