MIDDLEBORO — Retaining teachers and staff and creating a regular communication system to address issues with families are two of the goals Middleboro School Committee members set for Superintendent of Schools Carolyn Lyons for the upcoming school year.

The goals were presented by Jessica Chartoff, who chaired the goals subcommittee, at the School Committee’s July 18 meeting.

Lyons was asked to “create a program aimed at targeting teacher and professional staff retention.’’ This would include making “adjustments to the mentoring/induction program, collecting and analyzing new educator surveys, creating educator awards and incentives, and designing a pathway for teacher and professional staff leadership,’’ according to the wording.

To bolster interaction with the school community, another goal included creating “a system of regular communication through varied media to address relevant issues and topics for families,’’ who could then choose to engage in further discussion, according to the goals document.  

Other goals included improving student outcomes and equitable learning opportunities for all students and complete the third year of the new superintendent induction program, which pairs new superintendents with mentors, provides peer interaction and reviews best practices.

The goals were approved at the July 18 meeting, with one committee member, Christopher Benson, objecting.

His objection reflected questions about whether surveys could be sent out to receive more feedback about the district. Committee member Susan Pennini, who also sat on the subcommittee, had asked whether surveys could be used as part of the evaluation process.

Chartoff said the subcommittee found “conflicting’’ information about whether surveys could be included. Subcommittee members agreed to wait until school committee members could raise the question at an upcoming training session with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

Lyons would then have to agree with including survey results, Chartoff said.

Because of time constraints, Chartoff said, they agreed to present the goals without a specific answer on the issue of including potential survey information. The wording could be amended, she said, if the survey information needed to be added in. That would be the only change to the goals, she said.

Benson countered that he would “feel more comfortable’’ waiting until he knew exactly what could and couldn’t be added.

The question of seeking feedback mirrors issues that have been raised about educators’ views on the district. Committee member Marcy Fregault, who was not present at the July 18 meeting, has suggested previously that staff input should be included in the superintendent evaluation.

The committee agreed at its June 27 meeting to begin researching the process of adding a human resources department for the district. This would provide professionally trained staff to complete exit interviews and otherwise develop feedback, committee members said.