Two firms present strategic-planning approaches to Romulus Community Schools board

Representatives from two education consulting firms presented competing approaches to leading a strategic-planning process for Romulus Community Schools at the April 27 board meeting.

Great Schools Partnership’s Jose Bo, director of school partnerships, and Erica Walstrom, senior associate, described a four-stage process — laying the foundation, seeking community input, drafting the plan and implementing with monitoring — and emphasized defining educational equity as “ensuring just outcomes for each student, raising marginalized voices and challenging the imbalance of power and privilege,” Bo said. They proposed a core strategic-planning team of roughly 12–15 community members, supplemented by broad outreach (surveys and focus groups) and iterative drafts that are re-shared with the public. The presenters said they pair strategic plans with follow-up capacity-building so plans do not “sit on a wall.”

Hanover/Handover Research’s Jason Broken, senior director, and Cassie Cork, K‑12 research adviser, presented a mixed-methods model grounded in custom research and advisory services. Their team described deploying district-wide surveys, targeted focus groups, and quantitative analysis to set priorities and key performance indicators (KPIs), then supporting on-site workshops and dashboards to monitor progress. They said a typical engagement includes two to three on-site visits and ongoing virtual consultation tailored to a district’s scale and timeline.

Board members asked about logistics, travel and how each firm helps districts translate vision into measurable actions. Superintendent Ben Edmonson and trustees emphasized that the district wants a partner who will support implementation, not just produce a document. The board did not vote to select a vendor at the meeting; trustees said they will review materials and resume the procurement discussion in a subsequent meeting.

The presentations set out the main choices the district faces: prioritize deep, in‑person community engagement and capacity building or prioritize robust research and monitoring tools, or combine elements of both.