PRINCIPAL ENTRY PLAN

District Mission
The mission of the Sycamore Community School, a nationally recognized District offering unlimited opportunities 
for personal development and academic excellence, is to cultivate a culture of academic excellence through 
inclusive and innovative learning opportunities for the whole child.

District Priorities

● EMPOWERING:​ Provide rigorous and relevant learning and growth opportunities for students and staff. 
● ACCOUNTABLE:​ Respect the investment of taxpayers and demonstrate responsible management of 
resources. 
● INNOVATIVE:​ Sustain a safe and supportive learning environment for every individual. 
● INCLUSIVE:​ Respect the diversity of our community through culturally responsive practices. 
● RELATIONSHIP-DRIVEN:​ Engage all shareholders in ongoing conversations about our students’ future 
and the future of the district. 

District Strategic Plan

● Continue improvement of academic quality, measurement and reporting to build on present academic
improvement efforts as a District.
● Enhance future readiness for students through education, exposure and experiences.
● Maximize financial, operational, facilities, safety, human capital, technology and maintenance
capacity to serve the District.
● Lead an aligned high performing culture that is centered on an inclusive student experience that
encompasses each child’s health, aspirations and belonging.

My Core Values
High Achievement For All
● A successful school focuses on teaching students to be engaged learners who think critically and
creatively, communicate effectively and explore their interests. Symmes emphasizes high
expectations for all students, and supports them to reach their full potential in academics and social
skills to prepare them for success after high school.
Excellence in Teaching
● Passionate, knowledgeable, innovative, highly qualified teachers are the foundation of a successful
school. Teachers and staff are expected to provide a dynamic, rigorous, and engaging learning
experience for all students. Excellent teaching begins with strong relationships between staff, parents
and students and is built through collaboration, trust and support. Teachers are expected to
participate in professional learning communities that create and sustain an atmosphere of intellectual
excitement, innovative instruction and personal growth. Staff and administrators must have high
expectations for themselves and their students; and work together to meet those expectations.
Collaboration and Teamwork
 ● Students, staff members, parents, administrators, and community members must work together to
develop and maintain a student-centered learning environment. Through collaboration, teams learn
and build on the strengths of one another. We must seek out partnerships with parent and
community organizations that add value to our school system.
Respect for Diversity and Inclusion
● Our school will be committed to acknowledging and celebrating the diversity within our community.
By promoting a safe, respectful environment for questioning and challenge, we foster the growth and
value that comes from different perspectives, cultures and experiences. Our commitment is to create
an atmosphere of safety that allows us to acknowledge and express differences while practicing
acceptance and respect for all.

Goals of the Entry Plan

1. To create trusting and collaborative relationships among administrators, staff, students, families and
community partners
2. To ensure academic achievement, growth and rigor for all students while creating opportunities for
students to reach their full potential
3. To develop and foster a professional learning community based on a shared vision and goals,
collaboration and mutual respect

Goal 1: To create trusting and collaborative relationships among administrators,

staff, students, families and community partners
Objectives: 1. Ensure ongoing, clear, and consistent communication with all staff and
stakeholders
2. Increase opportunities for relationship building to increase opportunities to promote
a positive school climate and culture

Focus Actions Timeline:

Group

Staff Set up​ ​One-On-One Voluntary Interviews with Teachers and Staff July 1
● Questions (See Appendix A)

Set up meeting with each Subject Leader August

● Questions (sent out ahead of time)
i. Where were we?
ii. Where are we?
iii. Where are we going?
iv. What data do we collect and use?

Send a Welcome Back Introductory Letter to Staff July 1

Organize a Welcome Back Social August 1

 Review staff handbook, assessment schedule, professional July-August
development schedule, school year calendar, building schedule
matrix, mission and goals of district and building, curriculum and
instruction expectations

Visit teacher classrooms as they prepare for the school year August

Schedule Staff Meeting to share the district mission, vision and August-September
goals. Create and share building goals.

Begin to plan for PLCs, Data Analysis Meetings, Leadership August-September

Meetings, RTI Core Leadership Meetings and PBIS Meetings,
Collaborative Planning Meetings,Set up committees with staff
members

Create an observation/evaluation schedule for all staff members August- September

Have an open door policy for parents, teachers and staff August-June

Send daily email to staff with updates, events and celebrations August -June

Parents & Send a letter to parents introducing myself and inviting them to July 15
Community attend a meet and greet
Members
Meet with members of the parent leadership team (PTO board) for August 1
collaborative planning to include “back to school” events

Have a meet and greet scheduled for parents to come in to August

introduce themselves and get acquainted
● Share mission, vision, and goals of school
● Share core values Share parent handbook including
policies, rules, and protocol of the building
● Ask parents to complete a brief survey and/or interview;
use this feedback to create action plans and edit entry plan
● Utilize translation services to accommodate any language
needs of parents

Send letter to families re: the beginning of school information August 15

Continue sending weekly building newsletter August-June

Frequently update school Facebook page with pictures, events August-June

and news

Meet Monthly with PTO board August-June

Monthly Public PTO Meetings August-June

Ensure an open door policy August -June

Students Plan a motivational assembly to welcome students back and August

remind of the PBIS expectations
 Create a student advisory group September
● 2 from each fourth grade classroom chosen by the
teachers
● Monthly meetings

Be visible and interactive before, during, and after school; observe August-June
students in all school and learning environments

Attend after school activities and extracurriculars August -June

Acknowledge and Celebrate students successes August - June

● Weekly raffles
● Quarterly PBIS awards
● Phone calls home to parents

District Share entry plan February 2021

Office
Review Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan August
● Align to building goals

Share collaboratively developed building goals September

Discuss student achievement strategies, professional staff Ongoing

development, parent engagement and community participation
with stakeholders

Goal 2: To ensure academic achievement, growth and rigor for all students while
creating opportunities for students to reach their full potential
Objectives: 1. Review all data for the past 2 years, identifying trends in proficiency and growth
for:, district systems, school assessment data, student demographic data,
teacher data, behavior data
2. Review interview responses from staff, parents/guardians, students at the
beginning of the school year.
3. Establish plans of actions based on trends of overall district data and building
data

Focus Group Actions Timeline:

District ● District’s strategic plan July-August and

Systems ● District Mission, Vision and Goals ongoing
● Curriculum Maps

School ● MAP data July-August and

Assessment ● Report Card data ongoing
Data ● AIR data
● EasyCBM data
● OTELA

Student ● Attendance July-August and

Demographic ● Enrollment ongoing
Data ● Ethnicity
 ● Free and reduced lunch populations
● Students with special needs
● Religious affiliations
● Languages
● Subgroups
● Ellevation Data

Teacher Data ● Teacher Evaluations July-August and

● Value Added Data by teacher ongoing

Behavior Data ● DASL discipline data July-August and

● PBIS data ongoing

Action Plan ● Meet with RTI Leadership Team (academics and August-September
behavior) to review and modify, as necessary, the RTI and ongoing
process
○ Review and update norms and guidelines for
September benchmark meetings and
qualifications for intervention supports at the Tier
2 and Tier 3 levels
○ Review and update templates for individual
teachers meetings
○ Encourage and support use of research based
interventions (list generated by intervention
teachers 20-21 school year)

● Develop PLC and BLT meeting schedules August

● Meet with BLT and BDT to define and strengthen teacher August-September
weekly PLC meetings
○ Establish and communicate structures for data
analysis, presentation and integration for the
school year
○ review data, identify trends and develop
priorities for school-wide instructional
practices
○ Create norms and guidelines for PLC meetings

● Meet with PBIS Tier 1, 2, 3 committees August

○ Review expectations for the year
○ Share expectations with teachers
○ Determine action plans for the year

● Plan and hold OTES meeting with staff members September

Goal 3: To develop and foster a professional learning community based on a

shared vision and goals, collaboration and mutual respect
Objectives: 1. Create the building goals in collaboration with the school staff that is aligned to
district mission, vision and goals
 2. Focus the work of the BLT team on creating effective practices for weekly PLC
team meetings
3. Gather data to gauge the success of the newly defined practices

Focus Actions Timeline:

Group

Staff ● Staff meeting to create building goals that are aligned to August
the district mission, vision and goals

BDT Team ● Meet with Building Data Team to define a process for August-September
weekly PLC meetings and ongoing
○ Comprise team of one member from each grade
level and special area
○ Create norms and guidelines for weekly meetings
○ complete individual action plan
○ Monitor progress of action plan at monthly BDT
Team Meetings and grade level collaborative
planning meetings
○ review data as new benchmarks and formative
assessments are given; create new action plans
with the current data

● Meet with Building Data Team to determine success October

criteria and data collection for building goals
○ This should include short and long term goals

● Schedule professional development based on student and September-October

staff needs from the data and ongoing

Weekly ● Grade level and special area teams meet weekly at a September -October
Meetings building determined date and time and ongoing
● BDT leaders guide the teams through the new process to
ensure accountability and effectiveness

Success ● Criteria determined in collaboration with the BDT team September -October
Data ● Data will be reviewed monthly during BDT meetings and ongoing