The good the bad & the ugly: we asked. You answered. From a substance abuse transition program, to escalating health care costs to the trouble with "highly qualified teachers," your peers share the highs and lows of running a school district.GOOD What is the most successful academic program in your district? SUCCESS FOR ALL, a research-based reading program created by taking the best of the best from several sources and creating an eclectic program. There is ongoing professional development, student groupings for reading by performance levels, eight-week assessments to enable students to more forward quickly, and support for students not achieving. It is on incredible program. Mary K. Sherrer, Superintendent, Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union, Vermont We have a classical language program (Greek and Latin) at our high school that is a partnership with the University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut is the State of Connecticut's land-grant university. It was founded in 1881 and serves more than 27,000 students on its six campuses, including more than 9,000 graduate students in multiple programs. UConn's main campus is in Storrs, Connecticut. and the Greek city of Kos. It has been very successful and has created lots of student, community and parental enthusiasm. Andre Ravenelle, Superintendent, Barnstable (Mass.) Public Schools Full-Day Pre-school for 4 year olds. Title I Reading/ELA/Writing is the most improved systemic academic instruction program throughout all schools K-12. Marie Ferrari, Assistant Superintendent Assistant Superintendent, or Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank. , Somerville (Mass.) Public Schools Carefully selected teachers with strengths in the critical areas of mathematics, science, language arts language arts pl.n. The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school. and social studies are all elementary endorsed. The intellectual, emotional and often physical needs of children are addressed by this team of teachers who work very well together. Tim Skinner, Superintendent, St. Ignatius (Mont.) Public Schools Colonial School District Colonial School District is a name shared by several school districts in the United States.
The term commingling is most often applied to funds or assets. When a fiduciary, a person entrusted with the management of funds other than his or her own in trust, mixes trust money with that of others, the fiduciary is commingling of federal, state and local budgets as well as applications for grants from the business world. Most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent" above all, most especially is the resulting student achievement in a district that deals with extensive mobility, poverty and diversity. Our data shows that the more teachers participate in our professional development, the higher their students achieve. Linda F. Poole, Executive Director of Academics, Colonial School District 318, New Castle, Del. A program that gives me a great deal of pride is INSIGHT. It is designed for young people who have completed a substance abuse treatment program and are ready to transition back to an academic program in the hope of finishing their high school diploma A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED. and putting their life back together. Great results for kids with heart-warming heart·warm·ing or heart-warm·ing adj. 1. Causing gladness and pleasure. 2. Eliciting sympathy and tender feelings: a heartwarming tale. stories. Ted Blaesing, Superintendent, White Bear Lake (Minn.) Area Schools Reading Recovery that targets first graders reading at the 20 percent level and below. We use it as a special ed intervention and [it] has reduced our referrals at that age level noticeably. It works but it is time intensive and therefore expensive. J. Michael McClaren, Superintendent, Claremore (Okla.) Public Schools We take great pride that we've been able to continue to offer outstanding services to students with special needs while keeping our gifted and talented programs at the elementary, middle and high schools. Along with this, we've been able to maintain outstanding music, art and performing arts in all of our schools and have been able to keep technology, family and consumer sciences. All of this and a healthy dose of interscholastic in·ter·scho·las·tic adj. Existing or conducted between or among schools. in  ter·scho·las sports at both the middle and high schools in a sale
environment for learning and play makes us an urban public school system
to be proud of.
David L Snead, Superintendent, Waterbury (Conn.) Public Schools We have implemented a Student Taking All Responsibility program in grades 3-8 that ensures parents are in the communication loop when students do not complete homework or do not achieve an acceptable grade. The "early detection" system helps students master the content. Linda Gray Linda Ann Gray (born September 12, 1940 in Santa Monica, California) is an American actress, best known for her role as Larry Hagman's long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen Ewing on the television soap opera Dallas Smith, Superintendent, Worth County RIII RIII Rural Infrastructure Investment Initiative (Canada) , Grant City, Mo. BAD What is the biggest financial strain in your district? Escalating insurance costs at all levels (liability, workman's comp, health, etc.). This is an area we have no control over and the only relief is to lower personnel and/or benefits in the health package. If the health packages are lowered, it makes our recruiting new personnel much more difficult. Ronald W. Erickson, Superintendent, Craig City (Alaska) School District Without a doubt the biggest financial strain for the district is salaries; then maintaining the technological needs of the district. I don't want to be the front runner front runner n → favorito/a front runner n (fig) → favori(te) front runner n (fig) → on technology. However, students and staff need to have appropriate support to integrate programs and hardware into the curriculum for students to use and demonstrate skills which they will use as adults. Rod Montang, Superintendent, Eagle Grove (Iowa) Community School District Brian Patrick, Superintendent, Townsend (Mont.) K-12 School District 1 Lack of sufficient state funding and an excessive reliance on local property taxpayers. Michael A. Morgan. Superintendent, Barrington (N.H.) School District 74 The lack of consistency seen in our state's annual school funding process. Annually, districts are forced to redistribute or eliminate staff and programs due to the lack of systemic funding. Currently, technology, security, transportation and special education receive no recognized funding or receive inadequate funding to meet district needs. Bill Myhr, Superintendent, Coupeville (Wash.) School District Doug Rutan, Superintendent, Kuna ku·na n. pl. kuna See Table at currency. [Serbo-Croatian, marten, kuna (from the earlier use of marten skins for payment).] (Idaho) Joint School District No. 3 Health insurance growth has been most difficult to manage. David Polashek, Superintendent, Oconto Falls (Wis) Public Schools UNFUNDED MANDATES from both state and federal governments. These mandates often involve purchase of equipment and significant training. For example, in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of every school has a defibrillator defibrillator, device that delivers an electrical shock to the heart in order to stop certain forms of rapid heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). The shock changes a fibrillation to an organized rhythm or changes a very rapid and ineffective cardiac rhythm to a . Certainly the expense of purchasing equipment was high. However, staff training to utilize the equipment was even higher. The mandate was well intentioned and worthwhile, but it places a greater burden on the already high property tax rate. Edward Price, Superintendent, Island Park (N.Y.) Public Schools Employee benefits and health insurance. Retirement costs just went up 1.88 percent, are expected to increase by 2 percent for the next two years. Carl Hilling, Superintendent, Gaylord (Mich.) Community Schools Declining enrollment in a state that has a funding formula based on average daily membership. Jack Broome Captain John Egerton "Jack" (or Jackie) Broome DSC, RN, (23 February 1901 - 19 April 1985) was a Royal Navy officer who served in both World Wars. He commanded the escort group of the ill-fated arctic Convoy PQ-17 in 1942. , Superintendent, Burke (S.D.) School District Having to cut programs and positions due to a lack of funding because of the Tabor Amendment in Colorado. [Called the taxpayer bill of rights A federal or state law that gives taxpayers procedural and substantive protection when dealing with a revenue department concerning a tax collection dispute. Perceived abuses by the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during tax audits led to the enactment of the , it requires voter approval of all taxes and limits government spending Government spending or government expenditure consists of government purchases, which can be financed by seigniorage, taxes, or government borrowing. It is considered to be one of the major components of gross domestic product. .] Glen Bradshaw, Superintendent, Sangre de Cristo Sangre de Cristo (Spanish: "blood of Christ") can refer to either:
Our district has 65 percent of the students entering school speaking only Spanish. We are required to have a certain percentage of the students at or above proficient within a year. We are committed to teaching children English and doing it well, but this is impossible when a student enters school in sixth or seventh grade from Mexico, has never been to school, and must reach grade-level proficiency in a year. California's method of measuring growth is attainable with a lot of hard work, and more accurately measures the academic gains that have been made. Janet Kliegl, Superintendent, Lindsay (Calif.) Unified School District A unified school district is a school district which includes both primary school (kindergarten through middle school or junior high) and high school (grades 9-12). In Illinois, these districts are called unit school districts. The unprecedented federal intrusion at the local level. Why is the federal money rail wagging the educational canine? Excessive federal regulations, particularly the forcing of such a high percentage of transient students to test. --Superintendent The law is an attempt by our federal legislators to "legislate intelligence." ... The 100 percent requirement is not possible. People are too diverse for 100 percent to "want to learn" even if 100 percent could learn to the standard. The federal government is out of line in passing such a law. The states ore to be responsible for education, not the federal government. Steven Breckon, Superintendent, Hamilton (Ill.) Comm Cons. School District 328 The community's perception that public schools are failing. Peter Ansingh, Superintendent, West Valley School District, Yakima, Wash. The fear factor. Whether the federal law intends it or not the fear factor of someday being on a watch list concerns the instructional staff. Especially the threat or actual loss of resources once it occurs. Our staff is struggling to keep the passion" for teaching and developing students, while at the same time being threatened with high-stakes testing A high-stakes test is an assessment which has important consequences for the test taker. If the examinee passes the test, then the examinee may receive significant benefits, such as a high school diploma or a license to practice law. . Enforcing rules and regulations and causing schools to compete this way is demeaning de·mean 1 tr.v. de·meaned, de·mean·ing, de·means To conduct or behave (oneself) in a particular manner: demeaned themselves well in class. to the profession. Dwight D. Widen, Superintendent, St. Ansgar (Iowa) Community School District Special education and economically disadvantaged youth not meeting the AYP AYP Adequate Yearly Progress (National Assessment of Educational Progress) AYP Anarchist Yellow Pages AYP American Youth Philharmonic goals. Especially cognitively disabled students. We are dealing with a three-legged stool (parents, schools). Only schools are being held accountable. I believe rather than punishing failure, reward success by giving parents of proficient students an additional $1,000 deduction on their income tax. That will create a positive reward! Jeff Kasuboski, Superintendent, Wautoma Area (Wis.) School District The unrealistic goal of 100 percent proficiency for our special needs students. Vince Anaclerio, Superintendent, Auburn (Calif.) Union Elementary School District [No Child Left Behind] places only a numerical value on the measurement of students' success. It does not take into account the affective domain affective domain, n the area of learning involved in appreciation, interests, and attitudes. of students. Further, it does not consider the problem solving problem solving Process involved in finding a solution to a problem. Many animals routinely solve problems of locomotion, food finding, and shelter through trial and error. skills that students need to learn to be "good citizens." When we are required to measure the success of those skills and that is how schools are judged then truly no one is left behind! Jerry Robicheau, Superintendent, Inver Grove (Minn.) Independent School District 199 TRYING TO CONVINCE intelligent people that our federal government is leading us with wisdom. So as not to appear politically biased--Jimmy Carter stated in the 1970s that "every child will score above average." Ignorance crosses party lines. Michael Gearheart, Principal, Western Boone Community School District, Thorntown, Ind. We will have trouble with highly qualified teachers as our older teachers with multilevel mul·ti·lev·el adj. Having several levels: a multilevel parking garage. Adj. 1. multilevel - of a building having more than one level certification retire and we try to replace them. James Redfield This article is about the novelist. For the classical scholar and professor, see James M. Redfield. James Redfield (b. March 19 1950) is an American novelist. James Redfield was born near Birmingham, Alabama, and studied psychology at Auburn University. , Superintendent, Lester Prairie (Minn.) School District |
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