JERRY WOLKOWITZ Elizabeth Giacobbe, assistant principal of Millstone Middle School, writes a mission statement created by a group of participants at Saturday’s Board of Education strategic planning session.

MILLSTONE — The township elementary school was the site last weekend of the Strategic Planning Group’s retreat/workshop, at which more than 50 interested residents got together to discuss the educational future of their township schools and to form a mission statement.

Participants included Board of Education members Tom Foley, who is the board delegate to the state, Laura Dreifus, Mary Pinney and Sami Qutub. Township Committeeman John Pfefferkorn and former Committeeman Bill Kastning also attended the workshop.

The final report and the mission statement will be made public in a few weeks, according to Millstone Township Superintendent of Schools Dr. William Setaro, who coordinated the event.

At the first session Friday evening, the group became reacquainted with facilitators Francine Case and Jane Kershner, who are representatives of the N.J. School Boards Association and who helped to conduct the orientation meeting in November.

Using the school’s cafetorium as a base, the large assemblage broke up into smaller groups at various points throughout the weekend. After working separately, the groups came together to compare notes.

In order to arrive at a mission statement, which would form the foundation for the rest of the plan and provide common vision for the organization, the group began by discussing its beliefs. These were described as firmly held concepts of primary importance in developing goals and activities to achieve a mission.

As strengths and weaknesses of the schools and community were discussed, all agreed that they felt fortunate to be living in a still-rural community. The teaching staff and administrators were also praised for being caring, dedicated and talented, and for providing an enriching environment for the students.

On the downside, all expressed regret about the continually poor voter turnout at school elections and generally negative response regarding the school budget. Limited finances for expansion of school curriculum and activities were discussed.

By examining the strengths and weaknesses, as they perceived them, the group was encouraged to envision its ideal educational situation and the ways in which it could become reality.

Case and Kershner, who were there as facilitators and guides, prompted the group to think carefully about the main questions: What is your ultimate aim? What makes you unique? Who do you need to interact with to accomplish your mission?

"The mission statement is meant to be a touchstone against which all other planning steps can be tested for relevance," according to information on the New Jersey School Boards Web site.

The description continues, "The future of the schools in the district is determined in great part by where they are now, on the identity that distinguishes them from other schools.

"A mission statement is an honest expression of a school’s or a district’s basic identity. The development of a mission statement comes after the clarification of values and the steps which scan the environment in which the district exists."

The groups were divided several times Saturday to discuss and work on developing the most inclusive but concise mission statement possible.

Guided by the work of the previous night, the groups struggled to assemble a "flowing paragraph" that would convey the important information about who they are and what they plan to do.

As Case explained, "An ‘excellent’ school is a valuable community asset. To achieve this requires you to continuously challenge your vision and have a willingness to change."

After the results of the two-day workshop are released, including an action plan and cost/benefit analysis, the subcommittees of the larger group will meet to set goals, form strategies and devise a schedule for implementation.