SPANISH FORT — The Baldwin County Board of Education could have in-hand within the next eight weeks a revised strategic plan for improving the delivery, quality and impact of public education.

Organizers of Yes We Can Baldwin, the county’s grassroots public schools improvement consortium, are working feverishly to incorporate public feedback collected over the past two months into a draft proposal for enhancing the educational experience for students, parents and employees alike.

Denise D’Oliveira, a spokesperson for the movement, said she will work closely with the school system over the next few weeks to evaluate the community comments received since the co-owned strategic plan was unveiled in May.

“I know there have been some suggestions about strengthening parental involvement strategies and we will be working together to research other best practices that might be added to the plan,” she said, noting progress in that particular area will be difficult to quantify because “there are so many influences pulling at parents these days.”

Yes We Can Baldwin combines the efforts of the Baldwin County Education Coalition with both the school district and stakeholders in the community, from business leaders and nonprofits to churches and civic organizations. The coalition, meanwhile, represents each of the school system’s seven feeder patterns, giving all parties involved a voice.

This consortium’s detailed strategic plan outlines an aggressive action plan for overhauling public education countywide by addressing five key areas:

• Funding.
• Data-driven accountability.
• Leadership.
• Ensuring every child is college and/or career ready.
• Communications.

“All of us — school system leaders and coalition volunteers — are committed to enhancing opportunities for parents to become better informed and engaged,” D’Oliveira said.

Of course, the community at large is expected to play a significant role in the process as well.

She said the coalition should be ready to present the board of education a revised strategic plan during its Aug. 16 work session, and hopefully, school leaders will vote on whether to adopt the proposal later that week.

“We need everyone to remember that this is a co-owned strategic plan — that there is a great deal of work which is the community’s responsibility to do. The coalition will serve as an independent monitor and facilitator, but help will be needed from many, many citizens — parents, business leaders, civic organizations and the faith-based community. If we truly want  21st-century schools, we must all do our part to move the schools forward. We can’t settle for the status quo nor rest on our laurels because when we talk about public schools in Baldwin County, good should never be good enough,” she said.

To that end, D’Oliveira said an education summit is in the works for October to help keep the community apprised of the plan’s intentions, needs and progress.

Fairhope parent Cali Howard, who has been watching Yes We Can’s evolution for more than a year, admits she might have misjudged the group’s range and momentum.

“As long as I’ve had kids I’ve heard about program after program that’s supposed to ‘revolutionize’ or ‘save’ public schools, and I finally decided to put my teaching degree to better use teaching my own kids,” said Howard, whose family lived in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Birmingham before relocating to Baldwin County two years ago when her husband went to work for ThyssenKrupp.

Howard was encouraged — but not entirely sold — on the positive reputation of Baldwin County Public Schools and decided to continue homeschooling until it was time to consider high-school enrollment for her oldest child.

“We’ve still got one more (school) year until we have to make a decision, but I’m really impressed with what I’m hearing about Yes We Can and what the school system is trying to do,” she said, adding she is most encouraged by the level of parental involvement she’s encountered.

“I don’t know a single parent of a school-aged child who doesn’t volunteer at their kid’s school in some capacity. They actually join the PTA and fill out questionnaires and talk to one another about what can be done better instead of just complaining about the things they don’t like,” she said.