Welcome Back From Dr. Croney!

The vision “Leader and Learners, Today and Tomorrow” sets our tone for the 2021-22 school year. We strived last year in all efforts to keep students in school, have all sports teams participate and still excelled for the most possible days. This year we are returning face-to-face, five days a week in grades Kindergarten through 12. At the writing of this newsletter, all sports seasons are starting on time.

Our emphasis this school year will be on assisting your student with any growth needed due to potential learning loss from last year. We will analyze student’s achievement scores, make adjustments and re-teach where necessary. Specific plans will be implemented to address any learning gaps from the 2021-20 school year.

The expectation, with Board affirmation on August 9th, is that face masks will be optional in grades 4K through12. However, face masks are again required on our school buses and vans due to an order from the U.S. Department of Education. We are following safety protocols including extra hand washing, disinfecting and social distancing where possible.

While online learning is available, our first priority is to have face-to-face learning, five days a week for grades Kindergarten through 12. Second, all of the class sizes are smaller at the elementary level to allow a better student-to-teacher ratio to allow for more individual attention to students’ needs. Third, we are moving to a “Reading Coach” model to assist all of our elementary teachers to address the need for student reading growth in grades 4K through 5. We are staffed with a Reading Specialist, a full-time reading teacher and now have three paraprofessional support staff to specifically assist with students who are not currently reading at their grade level.

The August staff development days will be fully utilized as our curriculum continues to be reviewed and updated. All elementary teachers will be receiving training on “Guided Reading and Daily 5 Reading Strategies.” We are also providing training for all new teachers in grades Kindergarten through 5 in our “Math Expressions” program and beginning in 2021-22 new social studies textbooks have been purchased for all grades Kindergarten through 12. Training for those materials will also be provided during the August staff development days.

The District is following through on our commitment to address mental health needs for our students. We are in the process of hiring a full-time guidance counselor to serve the elementary schools and middle school students. A Transitions Coordinator has been added to the staff at Northwestern High School who comes to the District with a strong background and experience as a social worker. Support and assistance will be provided to students (and parents/guardians) as they transition from mental health care and enter back into our schools as well as helping to navigate the paperwork to obtain mental health assistance from other providers if needed. This will allow any student that seeks help for, or has been identified with, anxiety,  depression or any other
mental health need to focus on their education in order to succeed and ultimately graduate.

We are very excited to roll out a one-to-one computing device program to all students in the fall of 2021. Each student will have access to a Chromebook (or Lenovo Duet tablet for Kindergarten and 1st grade) on a daily basis which will allow continued use of Google Classroom and other digital resources.

Last year we adopted three focus words to help get us through the pandemic: “nimble,” “flexible” and “gracious.” This year, our focus words are: “growth,” “achievement” and “accountability.” These words will apply to all learning and extra-curricular activities. Students will be required to show up, do their part, participate and turn in assignments. The days of repeated forgiveness for late assignments are over. As educators, we are striving for the best student achievement possible. In order to have that happen, we need the continued support of parents and guardians to say to your student, “Put the focus on school.”

Working Together for Achievement,

Dr. Sara L. Croney