The Eudora school board voted at its meeting Thursday to approve the district’s strategic plan for 2016-2018.

As with districts statewide, the issue of school funding has a major impact on Eudora’s overall plan.

“The Kansas Legislature’s withering support for public schools will play a significant role in how this plan’s goals are approached and the extent to which they can be completed,” the plan reads.

The plan places a greater emphasis on organizational strength than the 2013-2015 plan. One goal of the 2016-2018 plan is to establish a Human Resources Department to oversee hiring and retention of district employees. As listed in the 2013-2015 strategic plan, the district will continue developing a standardized hiring process and conducting “end of the year interviews” with employees who are staying in their positions for the following year.

Other goals in the area of organizational strength include communicating clear chains of command for district departments, conducting annual board and administrative retreats to ensure focus on strategic priorities, and establishing opportunities for students to provide district leaders with feedback.

For students, listed with the overall goal to “ensure a student-centered, well-rounded education for all students,” the plan lists a goal of exploring feasibility and funding to increase participation among 3- and 4-year-olds in a high-quality preschool. It also lists a goal of seeking grant-funded opportunities to provide additional mental health support to students and families.

In the realm of academic excellence, the new strategic plan lists a goal of providing curriculum and resources to equip students with cognitive, social-emotional and digital skills to thrive in the 21st century.

In technology goals, the district plan includes increasing the numbers of computers and tablets in classrooms to lower the student-to-device ratio; increasing knowledge and access for student families to use district technology; and collaborating with community resources to coordinate affordable off-campus Internet access for all students, for which planning should begin by this September.

Finally, the strategic plan lists goals of collaborating with community agencies such as the city, county and chamber of commerce, as well as increasing partnerships with business representatives to create opportunities for students and increasing opportunities for parents and patrons to support the schools. It also lists a goal of exploring avenues to encourage and increase student volunteer service in the community.

Eudora schools Superintendent Steve Splichal said he was impressed with the “level of detail and thought and energy” that went into the process of creating the strategic plan.

“We had outstanding participation from our community; from certainly our faculty, administration, our board; very much wanting to do the good work of determining the vision for where we need to go in this district over the next three years,” he said.

Splichal also said he was impressed with the transparent, open process of crafting the plan.

In the meeting, board member Lynn Reazin said she appreciated how much the board was involved in the “rigorous process” of crafting the plan from beginning to end, and said the board is “confident that this is a community document.”

In other business, the board received the results of its annual financial audit from Sean Gordon, a senior auditor with Mize Houser & Company. Gordon told the board the audit resulted in the “highest and cleanest opinion that we’re allowed to give under state law, so it reflects very well on the financial management of the school district.”

The board also received a piece of student artwork called “Helping Hands” in honor of School Board Recognition Month, which is January. Splichal said in the meeting that this will become an annual tradition and the artwork would be hung in the board office each year.

Board member Joe Hurla was not present at the meeting.

The Eudora school board generally meets at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at room 108 of the West Resource Center, 1310 Winchester Road in Eudora.