thruWORK
A few snapshots of what we do and who we work with
Strategic Planning
With a new superintendent recently hired, Kentwood Public Schools (KPS) in Michgan wanted to set the new direction for the district for the next three to five years. Over the course of six months, we led a planning team of teachers, principals, administrators, parents and community members through a highly participatory and engaging process while balancing their day-to-day responsibilities. The work included multiple workshops to develop the district’s strategic direction, define aspirational goals, come up with specific initiatives aligned to those goals, and define specific metrics to measure progress on implementing the initiatives. We also developed a comprehensive communications plan and governance process to provide transparency and accountability in implementation.
Community Engagement
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Superintendent of Ector County Independent School District (ECISD) in Texas (Odessa) approached us because he suspected many families in the community did not have access to broadband service and were therefore excluded from learning during the shutdown. We found that 39% of district families in the county did not have high-speed internet service in their homes. We helped ECISD develop (a) a short-term strategy of partnering with SpaceX and StarLink to pilot their internet service in some remote communities and; (b) a long-term approach to the development of the necessary broadband infrastructure around the entire county. ECISD was the first school district in the country to partner with SpaceX to provide families with internet service they never had before.
Independent Monitoring
It takes a multitude of complex administrative processes and business decisions internally to facilitate due process workflows. In order to streamline and connect the various steps in the processes, we were asked to assess the current state and recommend improvements to process, technology and staff. We are currently advising the DOE, a federal Court and the Plaintiffs in the settlement of a class action lawsuit aimed at improving DOE's timeliness to implement due process procedures. We report to Judge Loretta A. Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
