Charting the future: School district’s first community workshop coming up Oct. 6

The outreach has been extensive: postcards, a door knocking campaign, lawn signs and fliers plus numerous emails, ParentSquare notifications, social media posts and a webpage dedicated to the cause. 

On Monday, October 6, the Northport-East Northport UFSD will host the first COMPASS Community Engagement Workshop, a community-led initiative created to bring families, staff, students and neighbors together to discuss important decisions about the future of the NENUFSD.

The question is, who will show up? 

“This type of discovery process is new for our district. Usually, the board of education will make decisions based on what they believe the community wants,” Northport resident Molly Feeney Wood told the Journal. Feeney Wood expressed interest in being part of the group back in March 2025 and is currently a COMPASS committee co-chair. “We are facing a host of challenges relating to our enrollment and budget, so it’s time for us to all come together and make an agreed upon plan for the direction of our future,” she said. “After this year, the board of education will actually know what the community wants and then they will act on our behalf. We, collectively as a district, are the compass of Northport-East Northport.”

History and process
At a February 18, 2025 board of education (BOE) meeting, trustees approved a contract with Discovery Works Collaborative for community engagement consultation services; Discovery Works’ approach to engagement within the NENUFSD has included to date an online survey that gauged community awareness of district challenges and opportunities – those results can be found here. 

Outreach created to inform the community about COMPASS and its efforts since then has been wide-ranging, with postcards mailed to every district resident, fliers posted on the windows of local businesses, 544 doors knocked on during a weekend campaign and a booth in Northport Village Park at the recent Cow Harbor Day festivities. More traditional outreach via email and social media posts has also been ongoing. 

The October 6 meeting is the first of five workshops planned for the 2025-2026 school year. At the first meeting, chairs from the group’s facilitating team – composed of 27 community members, educators, administrators and a BOE trustee – will introduce the COMPASS program and process. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dave Moyer will deliver a State of the District address, after which groups of attendees will participate in tabletop activities based on information in the presentation; each table will report back to the entire group. 

There will be a similar format at subsequent meetings with topics for each meeting determined by the facilitating team based on the feedback from the first session.

The facilitating team will continue to work with the Discovery Works consultants in realizing its end goal: “To make recommendations to the Northport-East Northport UFSD regarding long-term goals and priorities for improving the learning experiences and learning environments for students in a fiscally responsible manner,” according to a BOE charge statement available on the district website. The information gathered by the facilitating team will be presented, in report form, at a BOE meeting no later than June 18, 2026. 

All in 
A letter on the formation of the facilitating team went out to district residents on March 3, 2025  and the deadline for submitting interest was March 31. 

“When I read Dr. Moyer's open invitation to the district about joining the community facilitating team, I signed up immediately,” Feeney Wood said. “I think this is an exciting opportunity for the community to come together and for everyone to voice their opinions about who we are, what we want, and where we want to go in the future as a district.”

Superintendent Moyer contacted every person who responded to the invitation in March; that group has been meeting regularly since April, Feeney Wood said. The team decided on the logo and branding of COMPASS, and is planning and rehearsing for the first community meeting on October 6. “We are workshopping the presentation and doing our best to make it an informative and engaging State of the District,” she said. “The goal of the first meeting is to hear from the community so that we can determine what the focus of the next meeting will be. The entire process is organic, so we won’t know what topics we will cover across the year until we hear from the attendees in October. That feedback will inform the following meeting, then the input at that meeting will inform the topic of the next meeting, and so on.”

The facilitating team has been split into four committees: a process committee (which Feeney Wood co-chairs); communications committee; door-to-door outreach committee; and community outreach committee. Each committee is led by two or three chairpersons. 

The anticipated scope of the program is September 2025 through May 2026, with the final presentation scheduled for June. Superintendent Moyer intends to provide regular updates to the board and community through the website, at board meetings and via direct communications. 

The COMPASS Community Engagement Workshops are scheduled from 7 to 9pm on the following dates: October 6 (at Northport High School), November 12, February 3, March 18 and April 27. To RSVP to the October 6 meeting, click here. RSVPs are recommended but not required; all district residents are invited and encouraged to attend the community engagement sessions. Residents do not have to attend every session to participate in the process.