Strategic Planning - Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191

Overview

The Strategic Planning process in District 191 is about creating a plan for delivering on the district’s mission, vision and values. Going through the process will ensure the plan is created in partnership with the One91 community, that it reflects our unique values, needs and strengths, and that District staff are clear about what our priorities are and how we’ll achieve them.

The process starts with understanding the “Desired Daily Experiences” of students, staff and families, and then moves toward aligning our work to create those experiences.

When the process is complete in the spring of 2027, the District will have:

An updated Strategic Roadmap, which includes our mission, visions, core values and strategic directions,
A specific 3-year plan that lays out the steps we’ll take and that can be continually updated, and
Vision cards to monitor and share our progress toward success.

The Strategic Planning Process is one part of “Build & Become: Planning for District 191’s future,” along with Facilities Planning.

Questions can be directed to Communications Director Aaron Tinklenberg at atinklenberg@isd191.org or 952-707-2042.

Timeline

Preparation: July-August

District leaders meet to plan the process, start engaging the public, clarify roles for participants, and more deeply understand the district and its history

July 27 - Strategic Planning Design: Superintendent’s leadership team begins planning the process, including dates, times, communication & logistics

Aug. 6 - Educational Leadership System Orientation: School Board members, district and school leaders develop understanding of the roles of governance, management and consultation, and how each supports a healthy organization; discussion begins around “what is” and “what ought to be”

By Aug. 31 - The Strategic Planning Team is finalized

Groundwork: September-November

The Strategic Planning Team engages members of the community to deeply understand our history, where we are now, and where we want to go.

September—Strengths & Needs Survey for staff

Sept. 16 - Story Wall: With community members and long-time staff members, identify and honor the district’s history and the events/trends that shaped its development
Sept. 30 - Environmental Scan: With community members and long-time staff members, develop a baseline of current reality — what’s well established, ebbing, emerging, or on the edge; part two will focus on an exploration of community partnerships.

October—Desired Daily Experience Focus Groups: Small group discussions with students, staff and parents to understand their needs & expectations for District 191.

Oct. 6 - Strengths & Needs discussion with school & department leaders, using results from the staff survey
Oct. 27 - Desired Daily Experience Themes: The Strategic Planning Team reviews focus group results and develops draft Desired Daily Experience statements.

November—Survey of staff, students and families to review and validate the draft Desired Daily Experience statements

Nov. 24 - Refine Desired Daily Experience statements

Public Update: December

Creating the Strategic Plan: January-June

The Strategic Planning Team and district leaders develop a three-year improvement plan and vision cards for Board consideration; Board reviews and updates the district’s Strategic Roadmap (mission, vision,values; “Action Cards” are adopted to outline the specific steps to be taken in Year 1 of the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan.

Jan. 12 - Three-year improvement plan development with the Strategic Planning Team

Feb. 9 - Continued work to develop & refine the three-year improvement plan

February - District leaders will develop draft “Vision Cards” to detail key measures for tracking district progress

March-April - School Board members will review & refine the District’s Strategic Roadmap (Mission, Vision, Values & Strategic Directions) with input from the community, and create their three-year governance plan

May-June - District, school and program leaders will draft and finalize “Action Cards” to outline specific actions to be taken during Year 1 of the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan.

Strategic Planning Team

The Strategic Planning Team is at the core of the Strategic Planning process. Made up of staff members representing the breadth of the district, members are asked to bring their perspectives, insights and experience to support this work.

The Team is responsible for helping to shape the Continuous Improvement Plan through a series of planning sessions. This includes reflecting on where we are as a district and how we got here, helping to define what students, staff and families want based on their input, reviewing our strengths and needs, and helping to draft the actual continuous improvement plan.

Public involvement

One of the most important aspects of District 191’s Strategic Planning process is that it build from the ground up. We start with the One91 community - including students, staff, families, residents and more - and build around your expectations for our schools.

Story Wall & Environmental Scan - Two sessions early in the process involve a wide range of community members who help identify and honor the district’s history and develop a baseline of current reality. (September)

Desired Daily Experience (DDE) Focus Groups - Parents, students and staff are invited to more than a dozen focus groups to share what they want their experiences with District 191 to look and feel like. The results will be used to guide the creation of the Continuous Improvement Plan. (October)

Desired Daily Experience (DDE) Survey - Following the focus group, draft “Desired Daily Experience” statements will be shared we’ll ask for feedback from the public to validate or adjust the draft DDE statements. (November)

Strategic Roadmap Survey - Community members will be able to provide input on the district’s Strategic Roadmap, which includes our mission, vision, values and strategic directions. The Board of Education will update the Strategic Roadmap based on survey results. (February)

Resources & Reports

Over the course of the Strategic Planning process, reports and documents will be created that all contribute to the creation of the Continuous Improvement Plan. Links to these documents will be added here as they are created.

Desired Daily Experience: Clear articulation of the desired daily experiences of staff, students and families
District Vision Card - The measures and metrics used to track district progress
3-Year Continuous Improvement Plan - Strategies and initiatives aligned to the district’s strategic directions, updated annually
Action Cards - The specific what, when, why and who for each initiative on the 3-year plan
Strategic Roadmap - The mission, vision, core values and strategic directions
3-Year Governance Plan - The work plan for the Board of Education to support the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan

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Building Community

'Story Wall' exercise kicks off District 191's Strategic Planning work

District 191 is underway with its Strategic Planning Process.

With the help of community partners, we started with Story Wall and Envionmental Scan sessions in September to fully understanding who we are and how we got here.

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Announcements

District 191 launches Build & Become planning process, invites applications to join facilities input team

During the 2026–27 school year, Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191 is undertaking a comprehensive planning initiative focused on the future of the district. Called “Build & Become,” the initiative includes two distinct but connected planning efforts: Strategic Planning and Facilities Planning.

Schools & Programs