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Officials with the Andalusia City School System is inviting parents and others in the community to participate in two public meetings as part of the system’s efforts in developing goals for a strategic plan.

The first meeting will be held Monday, May 23, 6 p.m., in the Andalusia Elementary School gym. This meeting is for parents of students who are in kindergarten through sixth grades for the current school year.

A second meeting will be for parents of students in the seventh through twelfth grades and will be held Tuesday, May 24, 6 p.m., at the Andalusia High School auditorium.

“We’re hoping to gather input from our parents pertaining to our schools’ strengths, weaknesses and threats,” said Andalusia Superintendent Dr. Daniel Shakespeare.

For parents of sixth-grade students who are leaving the elementary school for the junior high for the next school year, Shakespeare said it would be best for them to attend the elementary meeting on Monday.

“They would probably have more knowledge about the elementary school because their kids have been there for six or seven years,” he said.

Shakespeare said the information gathered at the public meetings will be used by school officials to produce plans to better serve students.

“We will take the data and sit down with our strategic planning committee to drive the decision-making process in regard to setting our strategic goals and strategies.”

As data is gathered, the school system will utilize the information in determining more about the future direction the system.

“The information we receive will help us to formulate out long-term goals,” Shakespeare said. “We should be complete with our strategic plan around mid- to late-September.”

He added that he would like to hold more public meetings in the future.

“Hopefully, we can continue these meetings as a way to maintain a connection with our parents. The more we can involve our parents the better opportunity we all have to better educate our children.

“We urge everyone to come out. We want to keep the meetings positive. This is an opportunity for the school system to elevate Andalusia City Schools into one of the top-performing systems in the State of Alabama,” Shakespeare said.