The man who starts out going nowhere generally gets there.&uot; Dale Carnegie’s sage words are equally as applicable to programs and processes as people.

And Pete Petermann seems to know that.

Petermann, superintendent of the Concordia Parish public schools, is pushing to develop a five-year plan for the district.

We think it’s a necessity for the district and its personnel.

A well-done plan — particularly the comprehensive plan offered by a five-year look at objectives and goals — gives everyone a clearly defined direction, and measurable ways to evaluate progress.

The creation process gives participants an opportunity to study the district today — its strengths and weaknesses — and to provide a detailed description of what programs should be left alone; which need development; and which, if any, need to be dropped.

If done correctly, with a variety of diverse committees studying separate facets of the district’s administration and services, the planning process can yield tremendous benefits for the schools.

More important, the process gives district administrators and the school board the opportunity to create ownership in the schools and their direction — from the students to the parents to the teachers.

And, most important, it will give everyone a vision of where they are headed — teachers, parents and administrators.

It’s a crucial tool in providing a top-notch, quality education to the parish’s students in this rapidly changing society.

And, as Dale Carnegie might say, we’ll never get anywhere if we don’t know where we’re going.

So let’s get out the map … and make a plan.