The Superintendent's View

Upcoming Election

One last reminder to take time to vote in the school board election next Tuesday, September 12th.  You may vote at the auditor's office until 11:00 on the 12th.  

Elementary Playground

If you've been by the elementary playground this week, you probably noticed some new equipment going in.  A huge shout-out to Lyle and Sally Kriener and their work each year with the Chickasaw Open.  They were also instrumental in our district receiving a Community Kickstart Grant.  Using the grant and open funds they purchased an awesome piece of equipment for the elementary school.  I was down there today and the students were lined up to use it.  Thanks to everyone who helps out and participates in the Chickasaw Open each year and thanks to the Krieners for all you do for our school and students.  

Construction Progress

If you've been by the high school this week, you will notice a lot of dirt being moved.  As I mentioned last week, they are taking all the dirt out and will be replacing it with packed dirt to create a strong foundation for the new building.  Next week they will be focused at the front of the building as we have to get all of the fiber optic cable repositioned where it comes into the high school.  We are a hub so we have the internet connection for several large entities in the area.  Because of this, when the final cable move happens it will take place in the middle of the night to minimize disruption to the other organizations that connect through our facilities.  In preparation, they will be moving the generator and its propane tank to its new location.  These are used to keep the connections alive in the event that we have a power failure.

Next week, the board will meet in a special session to review the final plans for the new facilities.  After that, the next step will be to send them to the bidders.  Stay tuned for more to come as our progress continues.

Concerns

I want to take a few moments to talk about what to do when concerns arise with the school.  Everyone in our district works hard to do the best they can for each of our students.  Sometimes concerns come up.  If you have a concern, you should start with the immediate person the concern is with.  For example, if you have a concern with your child's teacher, you should contact the teacher and set up a time to visit about your concerns.  If that's not successful in addressing your concerns, your next step would be to contact the building principal.  If that's not successful, then your next step would be the superintendent.  Of course, if that's not successful in addressing the concerns, then the next step would be to appear before the board of education with the concern.  

By addressing it at the lowest level possible, the concern can often be cleared up as quickly as possible.  Which in the end is what everyone wants.  Finally, if you have a concern, please take the time to let us know.  We want to address any concerns that we can and if we don't know about them it's hard to address them.  If you have any questions on this, please feel free to contact me directly.  Remember, we're all working toward the same goal.  The success of each child in our school.