Depending on one’s focus, this past weekend’s focus, for many who spend time traversing the path around the Falls, might have been the after-Christmas sales, the Packers’ finish to the season, reflections about the transition from one year to the next, or some combination of the above.
With Christmas coming on a Thursday, the after-Christmas sales on Friday kicked off a long weekend. This year, the 26th was declared a federal holiday. Many other offices were also closed, making for an extended weekend. However, the Times Herald crew was busy pecking away at the typewriter keys Friday, since they had an early deadline due to this week’s New Year’s holiday.
Given the early deadline, any comments about Sunday’s contest between the Packers and the Lions would be based on visions from the crystal ball rather than the big screen television. Unfortunately, this observer’s crystal ball was a bit out of focus when it came to that contest. Perhaps an upgraded model should have been on that shopping list for the after-Christmas sales.
No doubt there were many electronic devices under the tree last week, and many more were picked up at the after Christmas sales. It seems digital devises play a bigger role in our lives every day. Given that fact, the school district will be implementing a new communication system as we move into the new year. The Skylert system will allow the district to send out messages to parents and employees using a variety of communication channels. Parents can choose from a number of options as to how they get their messages, including text messages, e-mail or voice.
For many years, the district used a system that would send out voice messages, but they could only go out one message at a time. The new system will allow for the messages to go out simultaneously. This can be important for emergencies, but the system will be used for other communication needs as we grow into it.
With the transition from one year to the next, it’s popular to look at the past year and to focus on the one ahead. A year ago we commented about New Year’s resolutions. Continued commitment to building relationships, telling the good news stories about our schools, and the focus on a number of new initiatives that were to be implemented with the 2014-15 school year were on the list.
There was a lot of relationship building on many different levels. Each year, we see a transition with staff working for the district. This year saw the largest turnover in many years due to retirements and former employees moving on to other opportunities. A great deal of time and energy was invested in recruitment and orientation of new staff members. The investment has paid dividends with the operations continuing at high levels of performance. This does not happen by accident. We have been fortunate to have some great leadership in key positions to keep things moving forward.
The positive relationship between the district and the community was a critical factor with the strong support of our August referendum, which will allow for the building of new athletic fields and site improvements at Abrams Elementary. These were a long time coming and had been on the “to do” list for a long time. Crossing these off the list was very satisfying for so many people who put their hearts and souls into that effort.
Telling the good news about the district has been part of the success story with relationship building. In today’s new era of staff recruitment and retention, changes in school funding have limited the options for using compensation to bring and keep the best and brightest in our classrooms. Climate in the workplace is much more important. Everyday that is our focus and it has made a difference.
This past year teachers and administrators in the district had a heaping plateful of new initiatives. The implementation of the Common Core Standards has been well under way, and our student test scores have been very positive, especially in math. The new Educator Effectiveness System has taken a lot of attention with the goal of improving instruction in the classroom. Even though it’s been a lot of work, there is great buy in. Efforts to ratchet up school accountability with more student testing has gone smoothly.
There will be many more transitions as we move into 2015. Change seems to be a constant. We hope for the best and hope that will be able to continue to tell stories about the good news in our schools and positive relationships.
Happy New Year!
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