Our Purpose and Direction
By Stacia Harris, Communications Department
Buncombe County Schools’( BCS) teachers and staff members strive everyday to offer our students a world-class education. Regularly evaluating our successes and opportunities is a key element as we continue to thrive as a school system. This evaluation is meticulously conducted every 5 years through a process called reaccreditation, and in 2017, we earned reaccreditation through AdvancED. This nonprofit organization conducts extensive reviews of K-12 schools all over the world. They ask school systems to compile vast amounts of documentation( evidence) about all aspects of the school system. AdvancED aims to certify that every aspect of our school system is on solid ground and on a positive and productive trajectory.
“ This system-wide internal and external audit is vital to our school system,” says Assistant Superintendent Joseph Hough.“ We want to make sure we are continuously improving the quality and standards of our education process.”
BCS faculty, staff, and administrators completed the arduous process of earning reaccreditation through AdvancED in late March of 2017. This 9-month process culminated with a 4-day visit from an external review team.
“ This was a significant undertaking for our school system,” says Superintendent Dr. Tony Baldwin. While the reaccreditation process is challenging and rigorous, it’ s an important achievement. Likewise, the opportunity to self-assess where we are and where we aim to go as a school system is critical; the review by an external team of experts to validate the findings is invaluable.”
As part of the reaccreditation, a team of BCS administrators, teachers, and community stakeholders examined our Mission and Vision. We sought input from various stakeholder groups, in part, by conducting a survey. We asked ourselves the following questions: Who are we as an organization? What are our goals? What do we believe in? Through this introspective and thoughtful process, new Purpose, Direction, and Core Belief statements were created. We hope this clarity will help shape our daily objectives for teachers, school staff members, central office staff members, parents, and other stakeholders.
Associate Superintendent Susanne Swanger says,“ We are excited that our new statements capture the importance of teaching and learning. The internal review process has allowed us to reflect upon our strengths and challenges as well as create next steps for continued success. As a system, we put our students first and the quest of offering the best education possible is ongoing.”
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