Baltimore City Schools strategic learning plan gets upgrade with help of community members

BALTIMORE - For the last five years, Baltimore City Schools has called its strategic learning plan "The Blueprint." But now that plan is getting an upgrade.

Parents like Sherri Fisher will help.

"I want my daughter, and I want every kid in Baltimore City, to really see the world as their oyster, and I want to help them to see pathways to get to those things," Fisher said.

The new plan called, "Portrait of a Graduate," will detail how the district will provide resources, support and opportunities to students.

Fisher is a part of a team of 30 community members who will help build it.

"It's great that we have all these parties because we can't do this alone," said Baltimore City Public Schools Executive Director of Communications Andre Riley. "This isn't just city schools' plan, it's the community's plan and we're going to build it together."

The new plan is also expected to take a look at how learning was impacted by the pandemic and give students a platform.

"Math performance during the pandemic slipped, so we're focusing more on that," Riley said. "We're focusing more on elevating the student voice. In our previous plan, we focused on leadership, but it was mostly how staff lead students but our students also need to develop leadership capacity."

As their work gets underway, Fisher believes when the plan is set, it will be one every student can buy into.

"I think you've got to engage the community and I think the more ways you do that, the better, the stronger," Fisher said. "Education is really that root of what makes a city strong."

The team will meet again next Wednesday, December 13.

And they plan to work quickly, completing the plan by March.