November - A Time of Reflection, Celebration, and Thanksgiving - November 2005

Dr. William C. Skilling , Superintendent

 

As a community, and as a school district, we have so much to be thankful for during this thanksgiving season. In spite of our financial difficulties, we still have been able to sustain our academic programs and add new opportunities for our students and community. We have been able to hire several new teachers that have helped to improve our existing program offerings. We have a strong veteran teaching staff to help mentor our new teaching staff. We now have 80% of our coaches on the teaching staff and we have seen a very positive impact in our fall sports programs. We can be thankful for the dedication of all of our teaching and support staff.

 

We can be thankful for how well our performing arts students have done this year. Our Women's Choir and Marching Band both received superior ratings at their respective festival. Our marching band has added a lot more excitement to our football games by playing throughout the game.

 

We can be thankful for our new and remodeled facilities, new equipment, and new technology. Communities can expect students to strive to be their best when they provide quality facilities, equipment, technology, and teachers. If we give our students the best facilities, the best equipment, the best technology, and the best teachers, and in return expect the best from them, we will get it. Thanks to the support of our community, we can expect the best from our students.

 

We can be thankful that all three of our schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the third year in a row. Our Middle School MEAP scores went-up for the second year in a row. We can be thankful that we have so many parent and senior citizen volunteers that come and work with our elementary children everyday. We are thankful that we have several booster organizations that give so much to our students, staff, and our school district.

 

We can be thankful that our student enrollment has gone up again for the second year in a row. We have gained 43 additional students since we hit a low of 607 students in February of 2004. Prior to the last two-years, we had eleven consecutive years of declining enrollment in which we lost almost 300 students. We are now becoming a school of choice for many families. We are predicting that this trend will continue. This is a direct result of the investment that our community has made in our schools over the past years. Without an
adequate investment in our schools, students suffer, communities stagnate, businesses leave and property values drop. However, as a result of our community's commitment to education, we can expect to see greater economic development, increased property values, and students becoming better citizens who are ready to compete for the best education and for the best jobs available upon graduation.

 

Have a happy Thanksgiving!