They say time goes by
faster as you get older. I don’t know if
I am just getting older, or if time is going by faster, or both. Another school year has come to an end, and
on behalf of the Executive Team and the Governing Board, we want to take a
moment to thank everyone associated with our District for your time and
dedication you devote to serving our students and our community. The work you do every day is extremely
challenging, but is also remarkably rewarding, especially when you see the
growth your students have experienced since school began in August. Every day you make a difference in the lives
of the students we serve. What an
incredible responsibility! What an incredible honor! What an incredible joy!
At this time last
year, we shared several areas of focus for this school year based on feedback
you provided as part of our strategic planning process:
- The need to come together as a District
- Continue to increase student performance
- Support all employees
- Prioritize our resources
Your feedback also
indicated other needs — such as academic intervention for students who need it,
budgeting and capital plans, and increased training for staff, and to make
every effort to ensure we discuss issues with open minds — which fit well
within the framework of those four priorities.
As this school year
comes to an end, we are happy to report we have made significant progress in
all these areas.
Our Governing Board
has been a great example to all of us by working together in the best interest
of the students we serve and the District as a whole. Governing Board meetings are professional,
respectful, and discussions center on students. This example has consistently
set a positive tone for the rest of the District.
As was noted in the
last Staff Update, the Board approved a series of recommendations from our
Interest Based Budget Development (IBBD) group, and also approved a 1.3 percent
raise. This marks the third year in a row the District has been able to provide
raises for all employees. IBBD also recommended changes in how we accrue sick
and personal time. These recommendations were made in an effort to reduce our
substitute teacher budget, which currently stands at $1.2 million. When compared to other districts our size or
larger, this expenditure is $300,000 to $400,000 higher. This is a budget we
need to get under control, and we need your help to do so. The Administration
and Board have made a commitment to review any future savings from this area and
consider using it for employee pay increases.
We also committed to
the Response to Intervention (RTI) process for those students who are
struggling. Preliminary indications are these interventions were successful,
and significantly reduced the number of GESD third-graders who will be impacted
by Move On When Reading legislation. We know RTI works. These timely and
appropriate interventions make sure we are not leaving students behind who need
additional help. Through our work centered
on a Professional Learning Communities framework, we will continue to get
better at making sure our students get the support they need to learn at the
appropriate pace. This work will
continue, and we will continue to get better at it.
Let’s speak briefly
about test scores. In addition to the curriculum changes we are making to adopt
the Common Core, we are also transitioning our from AIMS testing to the
assessment that will go along with the Common Core. We know this will affect
our test scores. With the curricular and assessment shift, we know our scores
are not likely to accurately reflect our students’ academic growth; but, based
on a variety of indicators, we believe our students have made great progress
this year.
This year we made some
decisions difficult decisions to solidify our three-year budget plan and
five-year capital plan. Due to your willingness to invest in the future of the
District, we are in a better position today than we were a year ago in becoming
fiscally solvent and in a better place to address some of the District facility
and other needs. For those of you who work at sites where walls are separating,
bathrooms are not up to par, climate control units are not working efficiently
(or at all), we thank you for your patience and trust our financial plan will
address these needs in the not-so-distant future. These budget plans will also
address providing students, teachers, and staff the other resources needed to
make sure our students have access to learning opportunities every day they are
with us.
We are proud of the
progress made in building relationships throughout the organization. Although there is still work to do, various
indicators show progress in this area. There is improvement in the manner in
which we address our students in general, and a shift in how we respond to
their poor choices. Student referral numbers are down across the District, and
we have cut the number of days students are out of school due to suspensions in
half. Over the winter and spring breaks, we had no reports of vandalism,
graffiti or other property damage. This is an indicator that students and
families are taking ownership of their schools and that they are responding to
being treating with patience, dignity and respect. Thank you for all of your work in this area.
The relationships
between teachers and administrators, and classified staff and administrators
continue to improve. We are still not where we need to be, but the lines of
communication have improved. Teachers and administrators — who have not had
open lines of communication in the past — have improved at many locations.
There will continue to be times when we do not always agree, but we should
continue to disagree in a respectful and professional manner. This appears to
be more of the norm than the exception. If we want to become the school district
we desire to be, this work must continue at all levels.
We continue to make
adjustments to the professional development offerings and structure, based on
your feedback, to better address your needs. Those adjustments are taking place
at the certified staff level, but work needs to take place as it relates to our
classified staff. Time and energy must be devoted to developing a professional
development plan specific to the needs of our support staff. We anticipate that
work beginning this year.
Our greatest area of
focus is in the area of devoting time to better understand how we can support
our workforce – teachers, classified staff, and administrators. Some progress
has been made, but not to the degree we would like. We are reducing the number
of classified evaluation instruments from 22 to one, and we are shifting our
teacher evaluation philosophy/process from one of looking for every indicator
in one lesson, to a philosophy/process of growth over time. The bulk of the
work needs to be in identifying and understanding the intangibles that make
employees feel supported and valued.
In closing, thank you
for all you do and for having faith in our commitment to make the changes
necessary to create the District our children deserve, and one you are proud of
as employees. With a concerted effort,
we will get there sooner rather than later.
Please make it a point
to take care of your personal well-being during the summer break and to make a
commitment to doing some of the things that bring you happiness and joy. Your
continued support of the children we serve and of our noble profession is
deeply appreciated! Have a great summer!
