SUP’S SCOOP
Volume 3, Issue 2
One of the highest achievements a
certificated staff member can accomplish is to complete the rigorous standards
of National Board Certification. Howard
Shapiro was certified over a year ago, and Nancy Shimeall just recently
completed her certification process. Two
other of our teachers, Ann Acosta and Gail Lewis-Wardell, are currently working
on their certification. We encourage Ann
and Gail in their efforts, and congratulate
In the month of December, the School Board
purchased ten acres of the Knutzen property immediately north of our existing
high school campus. Although this was an
expensive parcel of land, it was important for the school district to obtain it
for future growth of the high school.
This purchase was recommended by our Facilities Study Committee who met
during the past year and made recommendations regarding future expansion of the
high school as well as recommendations for a new
Sup’s Scoop Page 2
Congratulations to the District Office
staff who had the highest percent of participation in the United Way Campaign
for the 2004-2005 school year! District
Office staff celebrated their accomplishments with a root beer float party in
December. My sincere thanks to all
district staff who were able to participate in
Each of our schools
is doing an outstanding job of developing School Improvement Plans for the
purpose of improving student learning.
At the district level it is also time to review our School District
Improvement Plan that was established in 2001.
Many of you helped in developing the plan, and I want to invite anyone
interested to join us to update that five-year plan. A committee will be forming in January to
review the goals that were identified, making any necessary changes. I anticipate four to six meetings in order to
accomplish this task and invite you to contact me or
LATE ARRIVALS FOR COLLABORATION
TIME
Congratulations to
all district staff for the excellent way that our time has been used during the
late arrivals this fall. I had the
opportunity to participate with several staff and was very impressed with the
level of dedication and commitment to this important planning time. Building administrators have done an
excellent job of communicating the importance of this time to our parents and
community members, and I am confident that they will continue to support late arrivals
as they understand the importance of this collaboration time and see the
improvements in our teaching and learning across the school district.
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During the past
several years, everyone has worked together to improve our school district’s
financial situation. You will remember
that following the 2000-2001 school year, our ending cash balance was a
negative $250,000. Each year since then,
we have tightened our belts and made careful purchasing decisions in order to
bring our cash reserve to $1,148,000 at the end of the 2003-2004 school year,
representing about 3.5 percent of our budget.
This is an accomplishment that we can
all celebrate. However, while this is a
wonderful achievement, this cash reserve is still low by comparison to school
districts across our region and the state.
After reviewing comparable data, our School Board has made the decision
that our cash reserve should be between four and five percent of the total
budget which is between $1.2M and $1.3M.
In their discussions, the Board was clear in their desire for the
district to achieve a healthy cash reserve, but not through budget
reductions. We are currently developing
a plan for the Board to achieve its goal over the next several years through
careful expenditures and thoughtful budgeting practices. Again, the goal of the Board is to improve
our financial position over time through careful fiscal practices without a
need for budget reductions.
Administrators in
Training
This year certificated
staff and administrators are working together with the Pathwise Program of
evaluation. After a committee of B-EEA
members and district administrators studied the Pathwise tool and conducted a
three-year pilot program, the decision was made to implement the program fully
in the 2004-2005 school year. Our administrators have received training on
the Pathwise Program, and further training will be conducted throughout the
school year.
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In addition, administrators are
learning how to conduct effective walk-throughs with reflective inquiry to
maximize student achievement. The goal
of walk-throughs and the Pathwise tool is to assist teachers who are committed
to teaching the district curriculum and working for even higher student
achievement. We are fortunate in
Throughout this year, administrators
are pairing up to collaborate with each other in learning effective
walk-through techniques. Please be
patient with us as we drop in to your classrooms as part of our learning
process.
Happy holidays! It seems like school began last week,
Thanksgiving was yesterday, and tomorrow we begin our holiday vacation! What a wonderful time of the year this is to
relax, spend time with family, and enjoy the spirit of the holiday season.
Thank you for all that you do day in and day out for the students and families of our
community. Enjoy a very well deserved
vacation, and I look forward to working with you in the New Year!
Please e-mail Superintendent Jones with your ideas for the next Sup’s
Scoop. E-Mail: rjones@be.wednet.edu