Super News
On behalf of the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools, I would like to officially welcome our students, staff, and families back! We have been diligently working over the summer to prepare for your return and are looking forward to an amazing start to the 2022-23 school year.

A Strategic Plan Update
As the school year begins, I’d like to take a moment to update you on our strategic planning process. Last May, we hosted Community Engagement Roundtables where various stakeholders shared their experiences and thoughts about education and Chagrin Falls Schools. We received such positive feedback from our participants, we decided to host another roundtable on Wednesday, September 14, 2022.  More information, including how to sign-up, will be shared in the next two weeks. Thank you for being so engaged in the work!

In August, we started phase two of the strategic planning process. In this phase, we finalized the timelines, roles and responsibilities for the Strategic Coordination Team members, as well as planning the next steps for establishing Inquiry Teams. We are just beginning phase three which is the design stage and need your help. We need stakeholders from each of the subgroups (students, staff, parents/guardians, alumni and community) to serve on our teams.  

Each team will consist of only 12-15 people and will contain representations from all of the stakeholder groups. We will have three Inquiry Teams as part of the strategic planning process.  Each Inquiry Team will focus on one of the strategic priority areas:

  • High-Quality Learning Experience: What must Chagrin Falls Schools do to advance academic excellence and future fluencies in a learner and learning-centered experience?

  • Student and Staff Well-Being: What must Chagrin Falls Schools do to advance student and staff mental, physical, and emotional well-being?

  • Strategic Resourcing: What must Chagrin Falls Schools do to provide students with the tools, partnerships, infrastructure, and resources they need?

Inquiry Teams will meet at least monthly, over a three to four month period. They will:

  • Define the current and desired states of their strategic priority area

  • Conduct research to develop a deep understanding

  • Explore futurist opportunities to strengthen

  • Compose a briefing paper that includes strategy recommendations to the Strategic Coordination Team.  

A communication with information about how to apply to be a member of an Inquiry Team was sent out early this week. If you are interested in applying, the information can be found here.
This is Chagrin. Write the Story.
At the August 15 Chagrin Falls Schools’ staff convocation meeting, we revealed the 2022-23 school year theme: “This is Chagrin…Write the Story.”

The work we will be doing this year centers around our school community sharing their stories and experiences to write a narrative for what we collectively believe and want for our students. This is a perfect statement that outlines what we hope to accomplish through the strategic planning process. Core values and beliefs are the foundation of strategic planning and establishing the culture of an organization. It is what makes school a special place to learn, work, and succeed, and a school community a special place to live. Are we ready to educate the next generation of students? How will the story we write this year impact their story in the future?

Throughout the school year, our students, staff, parents/guardians, and community will be encouraged to help “write the story of Chagrin Falls Schools” in numerous ways. From participating in the creation of the District’s strategic plan to actually being an author highlighting the commitment and dedication to academic excellence and preparation of our students for the world after graduation.

As a District, we look toward the future and ask all of you to engage with us as we help write Chagrin’s story for many years to come. 
The handwritten minutes from the first Chagrin Falls Schools Board of Education meeting, held by candlelight in 1849, provide the opening chapter to our 173-year anthology. A story where partnership is foundational to the tradition of excellence that we take pride in, Tiger pride.

Last spring, we began the strategic planning process by defining values, beliefs and behaviors integral to our school community culture. Accurately capturing what we believe, how we behave and what experience our behavior produces for our students determines how effectively we execute the strategy we develop. Comments made through the online survey and during the community engagement roundtables affirmed that Chagrin’s supportive school community is one of those defining tenets. We are a community that values education and supports our schools.

The District theme this year, This is Chagrin...Write the Story, dovetails nicely with the next phase of the process where we envision best practices to support our students in becoming their best selves. As a Board member, I see accomplishment and potential. Every student has ability, skill and talent and we have to opportunity to provide the tools they need to take their unique gifts into the world. That is something I would like to see become part of the District story, what ideas do you have? There will continue to be many opportunities to engage in this work this year and I encourage everyone to participate. Help set an inspiring future direction. This is Chagrin. Let’s write an extraordinary story!

Welcome to the 2022-23 school year!
September 5 - Labor Day/No School
September 7 - Board of Education Meeting/Work Session - Sands Community Room
September 16 - PD Day/No Students
September 21 - Board of Education Regular Meeting - Intermediate School Cafeteria
September 26 - Rosh Hashana
new website and app