Fall Sports
First, congratulations and good luck to Olivia Burke and Nolan Usher as they compete in the state cross country meet tomorrow in Fort Dodge. It will be a cool day to run. They have worked hard to get here and have represented our school well. Also, congratulations and good luck to the football team as they host Dike-New Hartford this evening in the first round game. The game starts at 7. Dress warm as it will be cold, but it's going to be an exciting game and you won't want to miss it. Thanks for everyone's patience as we work around our construction. We still have our handicapped spots available at the stadium for those who need them. Finally, good luck and congratulations to the volleyball team as they travel to Oelwein Monday night to play Columbus Catholic in the Regional Finals Game. It starts at 7. It will be an exciting game. Let's pack the gym and show our team the support they have. GO CHICKASAWS!
Board Goals
The third Monday of each month is the regularly scheduled board meeting. They take place at 6:30 in the high school media center. I encourage you to attend to understand what is happening in the district. The October meeting was held on October 16th. During the meeting, the board approved some goals for the current year. One goal is improving student attendance for the current school year. School attendance has been identified as a critical step in student learning. When a student is absent, there really is no way the knowledge that was learned in the class can be made up. Yes, homework can be done, but that is generally practice of what was learned in class. To be clear, we understand there are times when a student is ill and needs to be home, but if your student is missing an excessive amount of school, I would encourage you to reach out to your child's teacher, building counselor, or principal to discuss what's going on. This has become such a serious issue that the Department of Education has created a website with resources for schools to use to help with chronic attendance issues.
Educating our children is a partnership. If your child is having concerns/troubles with attendance, please let us know as working together is the only way we can make improvements.
Another goal was to conduct some observations to see if our classrooms are more student-centered or teacher-centered. A classroom that is teacher-centered is generally one where everything the child is doing is teacher directed and often teacher led. In a student centered classroom, the students are taking on more responsibility for their learning. One phrase that is used in a student centered classroom is the teacher is a "guide by the side" and in teacher centered classrooms, the teacher is the "sage on the stage." Most classrooms are some combination of these two types of instruction. Some times each is appropriate when working with students depending on their age and ability levels. At this point, we are just collecting data over time to see what is happening in our classrooms.
The last goal was to have every student in grades k-12 actively participating in at least one project based learning activity during the 2018-2019 school year. Last year our middle school did their Midmester Academy and this year the high school will also be doing a J-Term in January. We also have great examples of project based learning happening in regular classrooms from the elementary level all the way through high school. The school board wants to see that continue and expand so all students experience this each year. There are a lot of benefits to our students including being more engaged in school, demonstrating what they know and can do in multiple ways, completing more hands-on activities, learning how to work with others, and having to solve problems while working with others. We've seen great success with this so far and only see this continuing down the road.
One thing you may notice is none of these goals are looking at reading, math, science, etc. Our academic subjects are always a focus and have traditionally been the only goals the district has worked with. These academic areas will continue to be a focus and we will continue to monitor how our district is doing. We are required to do this by the state, but more importantly, these are still critical skills for all of our students and it's hard to do project based learning if you cannot perform the basic skills. However, the board recognized that these aren't the only skills our students need. They need to know how to solve problems, work with others, communicate, understand the importance of good attendance, and see how their academics can be used outside the academic classroom. Our kids learn a lot more in school than just academics and these goals reflect that. It doesn't mean academics aren't important. It means other things are important as well.
Other Items
A couple of other things to discuss. First, you may have noticed the board is considering an early retirement program for our teaching staff. A short explanation as to why we would do this may be in order. Early retirement programs are meant to help the district address any financial concerns that may be occurring or that may occur in the future. Right now, the district is in pretty good shape, but enrollment continues to drop each year by a few students and it looks like allowable growth from the state is going to be minimal and likely non-existent. Because of these concerns, we know that financial issues may face us several years down the road. By offering early retirement, we allow veteran teachers who are paid more a way to retire. They can then be replaced by younger new teachers who are paid less. That difference in pay is quite a savings for the district and continues over time. In addition, every time a staff member leaves, we look at whether we still need the position. If we don't replace the person, the savings can be even greater. The downsides are it still has a cost to the district and we're losing valuable experience. The cost is more than off-set by the savings; though it does impact property taxes. With the plan being considered it would have an impact of a little over a penny per thousand for each person who takes the plan. With the funding formula I doubt most people would even see or notice a change because of this and this is why the board is looking to limit the number of people who can take this benefit. The loss of experience is certainly a concern and is another reason why the board is looking to limit how many can take the benefit. Large businesses sometimes use the tool for the same reason to help manage costs. Most schools do the same.
Finally, the work on the building project continues and the weather has been great for progress. Like most years it looks like it's going to change for awhile. Hopefully, the cold weather doesn't stay around too long so progress can continue. Remember to support the Chickasaws and have a great day!
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