A Message from the Superintendent
Welcome to the second edition of the Superintendent’s Corner. This month I will summarize the activities that are ongoing from the fall semester, introduce new activities that will be initiated during the spring semester and give tentative plans for the summer session.
Ongoing since the inception of this school year
Educational planning and the building of school culture to accommodate growth, enhance learning and build a cohesive team concept have been on-going in the form of professionally developing administrative faculty and staff since July of last year. Working to complete a comprehensive district wide needs assessment began in July as well. Educational planning is a process that involves reflection, rethinking and redesigning critical components to cause positive change. Educational planning supports the district’s efforts to develop “the capacity to establish and maintain a focus on students, maintain direction, and the ability to act strategically.” During this past semester, we have been involved in an extensive assessment of the academic, structural, transportation, procedural, and technological needs of the district.
The immediate structural (buildings & grounds), transportation, procedural, and technological needs of the district and possible solutions (options) is being discussed with administrators who will discuss these items with teachers and later with the community through committees. These decisions will involve all of us and we are asking that the community follow the media, ask the questions via the telephone or website and remember that we are making these decisions with the best interest of students in mind.
Culture first! Culture is always first and foremost in my mind because it is the platform that we will build a successful school district. School culture is dependent upon the modeling of behaviors from administrators, teachers and support staff. I challenge each employee each day to rededicate themselves each morning to model this behavior to their fellow colleagues, the community, and students - “Expect the Best.”
New activities that will be initiated during the spring semester
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” The district is in the process of completing plans for next year. Spring initiatives to be completed this semester involve projecting site and district budgets for the 2012-13 school year, the selection of the 2012-13 district calendar by getting school district and community input, early completion of the student scheduling process, finalizing staff positions, completing support and certified negotiations, and establishing personnel and academic deadlines.
Projecting district budgets for the upcoming school year can become a delicate issue. Budgets are dependent upon several factors such as legislative changes and increases and decreases in state revenue. Janet Barresi, the state superintendent of education, stated that districts are looking at a stand-still budget next year and possibly within the next three years might see some increase in state funding; so we must be cautious. The objective for the second semester is to initiate cutoff dates for spending in order to file state and federal claims for reimbursement during this fiscal year.
Dates have been tentatively set for the completion of the student scheduling process, finalizing staff positions, completing support and certified negotiations, and establishing personnel and academic deadlines. As a district we want to be completely prepared for the fall semester before June 1, 2012. If you have questions concerning the scheduling for next year please communicate these questions to the school that your child attends.
Planning of summer extra-curricular and academic activities for students
We are still in the early planning stages of summer activities. The February newsletter will have a comprehensive breakdown of the district’s summer plans for students.
Sincerely,
Sonny Bates, Superintendent
Ardmore City Schools