Salida R-32-J Board Looks Back and Moves Forward
At their recent board meeting on September 8th, the Salida R-32-J School Board and Superintendent John Rouse reflected on what has been accomplished in the two years since Mr. Rouse came to the school district. In addition to reviewing the accomplishments, the board members heard reports from the principals and department heads from the school district regarding progress this school year. Finally the Board and Superintendent Rouse examined the priority goals that had been established for the 2008-09 school year and considered adjustments for the upcoming year.
Although the Board reviewed a long list of accomplishments, a few of the key ones were as follows:
• Revised and updated the entire policy manual for the school district and made it available on line.
• Developed written curriculum documents for every course currently offered. All curriculum documents are now available via the district’s internal network.
• Completed the construction at the Early Childhood Center and implemented programs that accept children from the age of five weeks old through four years old.
• Expanded access to technology in the schools by installing a wireless network throughout the system and by providing additional mobile computer labs and interactive white boards at every campus. This was funded through PILT and TANF funds.
• Expanded the public school options for parents in our community by building cooperative relationships with Crest Academy and Strawberry Door kindergarten.
• Created an alternative high school campus in Salida which is currently serving around 21 students. Many of these students were not attending school prior to the inception of this program.
• Increased our Advanced Placement (AP) course offerings at the high school.
• Added two additional instructional days to the school calendar.
• Partially addressed health, safety, and nutrition concerns at the high school by closing the campus at lunch for 9th and 10th graders.
• Increased the district’s operating efficiency by reducing staffing levels in custodial, transportation, and secondary physical education.
• Successfully passed a mill levy to increase staff salaries by 15% over a three-year period.
• Early enrollment numbers indicated that we have increased our enrollment by over 70 students.
After looking back, the Board and superintendent discussed next steps to moving forward. Among the items discussed were the administration’s continuing efforts at securing state funding for sorely needed construction projects in the district as well as the need to increase community involvement in several key areas impacting decision making. To this end, several new committees are being formed. For these committees to be effective and reflect the wishes of the community, volunteers from the community (including students) are needed to serve on these committees. At the District Accountability Committee’s (DAC) first meeting of the school year on Monday, September 21st at 7:00 pm at Salida High School, Mr. Rouse will fully explain the focus of each of the committee and together with DAC will encourage citizens and students to take active roles in these groups.
Briefly stated, here are the new committees:
• Community Engagement – promotes service learning; creates field-based (on the job) experiences and apprenticeships; and expands volunteerism by students and staff
• Staff Recognition and Public Relations – celebrates successes; and promotes positive PR
• School Calendar- considers calendar options for future school years including a post Labor Day start and possibly year-round education
• Standards-Based Learning – explores the concept of standards-based learning; considers non-graded schools and standards-based grading (includes travel to other districts)
• Facilities Planning (BEST) – participates in the planning process and development of the BEST application for state matching funds; considers options for addressing our facility needs; and explores “green” building approaches (1st meeting- September 22nd)
• Post Secondary Options – investigates the potential for attracting a four-year university branch to our community; and works with the city and county to develop incentives for bringing a post secondary institution to Salida.
Please get involved in your public school system. Come to the DAC on the 21st and sign up for a committee or call (or e-mail) Mr. Rouse expressing your willingness to serve (530-5203 or jrouse@salida.k12.co.us).
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Doing More With Less
With tough economic times, comes the challenge of doing more with fewer resources. This is certainly true in public schools. We are experiencing a reduction in financial support from both the state and federal levels. While reducing support for programs such as Title I, the federal government continues to hold on to what, in many ways, are unrealistic goals for No Child Left Behind.
In Colorado, the state legislature and Department of Education continue to place demands on the local school systems while decreasing their financial support for those school systems. The stress resulting from pressure at both the state and federal level manifests itself at the local school district level. With this decreasing resources, we are forced to reduce staffing levels in order to maintain balanced budgets. The first positions that typically get cut are the support positions such as custodial, maintenance, and instructional assistants. While the promise of federal stimulus dollars has postponed the immediate pain in some cases, this federal fix is temporary and unless the funding structures at the state level change rapidly more jobs will be lost.
In spite of this, good people keep working harder and longer with less support simply because they believe that what they are doing has a positive impact on students and the future of this nation. These individuals are the true patriots of a free system.
In Colorado, the state legislature and Department of Education continue to place demands on the local school systems while decreasing their financial support for those school systems. The stress resulting from pressure at both the state and federal level manifests itself at the local school district level. With this decreasing resources, we are forced to reduce staffing levels in order to maintain balanced budgets. The first positions that typically get cut are the support positions such as custodial, maintenance, and instructional assistants. While the promise of federal stimulus dollars has postponed the immediate pain in some cases, this federal fix is temporary and unless the funding structures at the state level change rapidly more jobs will be lost.
In spite of this, good people keep working harder and longer with less support simply because they believe that what they are doing has a positive impact on students and the future of this nation. These individuals are the true patriots of a free system.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Good People: The Strength and Heart of the Organization
The strength of any successful organization rests in its people, and the people create the heart of the organization. Our organization, Salida R-32-J School District, is keenly dependent upon its people for our success because we are in the "people-building" business. Recently our school system, like every other public school system in the state of Colorado has been struggling with declining financial support from the state level. Although much of Colorado weathered the earlier phases of the current recession, even our state- rich in resources and talented people as it may be- is impacted by the economic downturn.
As I discussed in an earlier blog, tough economic times provide opportunities to improve an organization by investing in its infrastructure. As a school system, our infrastructure is our people. Fortunately the voters in the Salida School District approved a mill levy increase this last November that will give our employers a much needed salary increase over the next three years. The timing could not have been better! With our state department of education calling for a rescission of state funds for the current school year and possibly beyond, not many educators in Colorado will be lucky enough to see any significant increase in salaries or benefits.
During the preparations leading up to the bond election, the administration and the Board laid out a goal of trying to reach a salary level for teachers that equalled the state average. Of course the joke (which was not funny then nor now) was that we (R-32-J) would never reach the average because the other districts would be increasing their salaries as well. As it turns out (at least for now), this might not be the case. We might actually gain ground relative to the average more than we had hoped. If so, our salaries for our teachers will still be lower than they should be for the work they do.
Along with increasing salaries, we said that we would increase the number of instructional days to also get closer to what we believed the state average was at that time. Since the state of Colorado does not set a required minimum number of days of instruction, it is difficult to get a good measure of the appropriate number. The state does, however, mandate the minimum number of hours of student instructional contact per school year. Since our district was near that minimum, we told our public that we would increase that time. Last month, our Board followed through on that promise by approving a calendar for the 2009-2010 school year that included two additional student contact days and increased the sanctioned number of minutes of instruction per school day at the high school. Although we are uncertain where this puts us in comparison to some state average, we do know that we increased what our Board defines as "instructional contact time" by the equivalence of about 6.5 days of instruction (based on a seven-hour school day). We believe that our students will benefit from this additional time of engagement in learning with our teachers.
In all this talk about minutes and hours of instruction, let us not lose sight of the many untold hours that good teachers put in preparing lessons, assessing student progress, and conferencing with students and parents. Some calucations I have seen would put the teachers' compensation per hour, when considering all of these factors, at less than what a high school student can make baby-sitting that teacher's child while the teacher is at a training workshop.
As the Superintendent of the Salida School District and as a former classroom teacher, I acknowledge and respect the work that teachers do as they provide the best possible learning experiences for our children. In addition to the teachers, I also respect the work that every staff member does on behalf of our students. From custodians to bus drivers and everyone else, thanks for what you do for Salida R-32-J's students and our community.
Always for Children,
John P. Rouse
Superintendent
As I discussed in an earlier blog, tough economic times provide opportunities to improve an organization by investing in its infrastructure. As a school system, our infrastructure is our people. Fortunately the voters in the Salida School District approved a mill levy increase this last November that will give our employers a much needed salary increase over the next three years. The timing could not have been better! With our state department of education calling for a rescission of state funds for the current school year and possibly beyond, not many educators in Colorado will be lucky enough to see any significant increase in salaries or benefits.
During the preparations leading up to the bond election, the administration and the Board laid out a goal of trying to reach a salary level for teachers that equalled the state average. Of course the joke (which was not funny then nor now) was that we (R-32-J) would never reach the average because the other districts would be increasing their salaries as well. As it turns out (at least for now), this might not be the case. We might actually gain ground relative to the average more than we had hoped. If so, our salaries for our teachers will still be lower than they should be for the work they do.
Along with increasing salaries, we said that we would increase the number of instructional days to also get closer to what we believed the state average was at that time. Since the state of Colorado does not set a required minimum number of days of instruction, it is difficult to get a good measure of the appropriate number. The state does, however, mandate the minimum number of hours of student instructional contact per school year. Since our district was near that minimum, we told our public that we would increase that time. Last month, our Board followed through on that promise by approving a calendar for the 2009-2010 school year that included two additional student contact days and increased the sanctioned number of minutes of instruction per school day at the high school. Although we are uncertain where this puts us in comparison to some state average, we do know that we increased what our Board defines as "instructional contact time" by the equivalence of about 6.5 days of instruction (based on a seven-hour school day). We believe that our students will benefit from this additional time of engagement in learning with our teachers.
In all this talk about minutes and hours of instruction, let us not lose sight of the many untold hours that good teachers put in preparing lessons, assessing student progress, and conferencing with students and parents. Some calucations I have seen would put the teachers' compensation per hour, when considering all of these factors, at less than what a high school student can make baby-sitting that teacher's child while the teacher is at a training workshop.
As the Superintendent of the Salida School District and as a former classroom teacher, I acknowledge and respect the work that teachers do as they provide the best possible learning experiences for our children. In addition to the teachers, I also respect the work that every staff member does on behalf of our students. From custodians to bus drivers and everyone else, thanks for what you do for Salida R-32-J's students and our community.
Always for Children,
John P. Rouse
Superintendent
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Leading in Tough Times
As our school district (like many others in our state and the nation) face some tough economic times, we need to take stock in what we are about. What is the purpose of our organization, and is it a worthy purpose?
As I see it, our purpose is now (and shall remain) to be that of providing the best educational opportunities for the students of our community that we can possibly provide.
Is that a worthy purpose? I certainly believe that it is because if we fail to provide the best learning experiences for our children then we have fallen short of equipping them with the tools to face the challenges that will confront them.
With increasing demands of accountability and responsibility and decreasing resources, our challenges are intensified; however, with these challenges comes the opportunity to make our system more effective and efficient at what we do. Remembering that our core purpose is educating children, we begin to examine all that we are doing and re-focus our resources on that core mission. This is not to say that we should that we should narrow our attention to just reading, writing, and arithematics, but that we focus on providing all of the skills that our students need to allow them to be successful as citizens and to compete in an increasing tough economic environment. That translates into stressing the "21st Century Skills" that we often espouse as part of our mission.
For us locally in R-32-J, this means that we need to invest in our own infrastructure even in tough times, so we can continue our mission of preparing of students for their future. Therefore as we look for operational efficiencies in our system, we should allocate the resources to strenthen and expand our infrastructure, so we can go about our work with even greater efficiency. Investing dollars to create a technology backbone that will enable our teachers and students to utilize current and emerging technologies is a proactive rather than reactive strategy that will allow our students to benefit now. Now is important because "now" is our only opportunity to reach and teach this group of students. They are a resource for our community and nation that we cannot afford to waste or leave underutilized.
As I see it, our purpose is now (and shall remain) to be that of providing the best educational opportunities for the students of our community that we can possibly provide.
Is that a worthy purpose? I certainly believe that it is because if we fail to provide the best learning experiences for our children then we have fallen short of equipping them with the tools to face the challenges that will confront them.
With increasing demands of accountability and responsibility and decreasing resources, our challenges are intensified; however, with these challenges comes the opportunity to make our system more effective and efficient at what we do. Remembering that our core purpose is educating children, we begin to examine all that we are doing and re-focus our resources on that core mission. This is not to say that we should that we should narrow our attention to just reading, writing, and arithematics, but that we focus on providing all of the skills that our students need to allow them to be successful as citizens and to compete in an increasing tough economic environment. That translates into stressing the "21st Century Skills" that we often espouse as part of our mission.
For us locally in R-32-J, this means that we need to invest in our own infrastructure even in tough times, so we can continue our mission of preparing of students for their future. Therefore as we look for operational efficiencies in our system, we should allocate the resources to strenthen and expand our infrastructure, so we can go about our work with even greater efficiency. Investing dollars to create a technology backbone that will enable our teachers and students to utilize current and emerging technologies is a proactive rather than reactive strategy that will allow our students to benefit now. Now is important because "now" is our only opportunity to reach and teach this group of students. They are a resource for our community and nation that we cannot afford to waste or leave underutilized.
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