Beaufort County Schools is putting in some extra effort to get feedback from the community about the future of its schools.

“We feel like it’s been long overdue,” said Don Phipps, superintendent of Beaufort County Schools, adding that forums like this have not been done since he took over as superintendent. “We feel like the community needs to be involved. … We want to make it open to anybody.”

The district held three community forums from Sept. 14-16 for residents to come express any ideas or concerns for the state of the schools. The forums were held at Northside, Washington and Southside high schools, respectively over the three days.

Participants were asked to come prepared to offer opinions on “how to improve education in Beaufort County so that all students graduate from high school prepared for work, further education and citizenship.”

Phipps said it’s all part of the county’s plan to look at the goals and values of the community and ensure the schools match that.

“It’s part of the strategic planning process that were going through,” he said. “We want this to be their school system.”

Phipps said the school district brought in a retired superintendent from another district to run the forums, as an objective third party encouraged the participants to voice their opinions honestly.

A strategic planning committee is planning to look at the results of the forums sometime in October, he said.

Community members who were not able to attend the forums are always welcome to offer feedback by calling, writing or coming by the district office, he said.

“I would hope folks would share with us. … I want them to feel like they’ve got a voice in the decisions that are being made,” Phipps said. “I want us to be a group of folks that look to the people that we serve.”

Although this is the first attempt at these forums, he said he thought participants came with good ideas and were not afraid to express them.

“I thought it went well. I thought it was good engagement,” Phipps said. “We (the school district) also need to be open and receiving information as well.”