Central CSD- We are here to stay!

It is hard to believe it has been two years since I interviewed and was hired as superintendent/elementary principal of Central.  For my family, accepting the job was not an easy decision as Central would become the fourth school district for our kids.  Yet, I had done my homework on Central and the communities that make up the school district.  My wife and I believed a move to Central would mean more offerings for our kids as well as a financially strong school district built to last.  Both of these beliefs have shown to be true.

It surprises me that even today I hear from people about the longevity of Central and all the rumors that go with that.  My guess with the retirement of Clayton Ridge's superintendent and the Ed-Co budget cuts, once again the rumor mill will be in full operation about the future of our district and surrounding districts.  So let me be proactive in addressing these rumors.  Since coming to Central I have made no secret that education needed to change.  Smaller school districts MUST be innovative to stay strong and not only survive but thrive.  Because of my belief that Central is here to stay, I have taken a visionary approach in everything we do.  I have also been completely transparent with my ideas, liked or not.  Let me highlight some of these below.

Facilities
I have put together a facilities committee and hired an architecture firm to address our buildings and grounds.  I felt instead of updating here and there, we needed a plan to prioritize our needs and this plan should be developed by a professional.  Through the development of our site plan and results of our parent survey we identified the following concerns needing to be addressed:

• Accessibility- Our K-12 building has three main floors.  Yet in our site plan we identified 22 different levels, yes, 22.  Most of these levels are not handicapped accessible and do not meet ADA compliance.  Handicap parking and visitor parking are also a concern we are looking at addressing. 
• Safety- Some of the spaces in our building used by our students are unsafe due to a lack of exits. In our shop area, the main electric runs along the ceiling.  None of our entrances are secure and we have no way of monitoring who is in our building.  Our concession stand has no running water which is unsanitary.
• Academics-  As I have stated since I have arrived here, education is changing.  No longer should teachers be delivering content in a one size fits all method.  Employers are looking for workers who are responsible, creative, and work well with others.  Our building is designed more as a prison institution than a creative, collaborative learning center.  Our children will get jobs in a global market, this did not exist when we went to school.  Research also strongly shows without a college degree, level of income and life expectancy steeply decrease.  It is imperative that we give EVERY student the tools needed to be successful after they graduate Central.  Our academics are strong at Central, but there are things we can do to make them stronger.
• Mechanical- The mechanical structure of our building is becoming severely outdated.  This ranges from our boiler system to electrical to plumbing.  Making these repairs in stages will cost the district a lot more money than if we tackled these changes all at once.  By addressing our mechanical, we can also become more energy efficient, freeing up ongoing money to be used toward academic programs for our children.

Enrollment

I have heard the concern that Central's enrollment continues to decline and with that decline Central will have to merge or cease to exist.  Yes, it is true our enrollment has declined, specially the years after major floods.  Still, projections show a different picture:

Currently our elementary class sizes are larger than our middle school and high school class sizes.  Our preschool program is also currently full (maximum 40 students) with students on a waiting list to get in.  While enrollment is impossible to fully predict, I feel with the job availability in our community and the educational offerings of our school district we can and will grow.

Budget

Central is financially strong, in large part due to massive cuts to our staff.  We have the smallest administration team of any surrounding district.  We have also implemented multi-age classrooms which allows us to maintain financially strong student to teacher ratios.  Along with a healthy budget, Central has zero debt.  To maintain a strong budget, I am currently looking into more sharing opportunities.  These opportunities will not only allow us to maintain financial strength, they will allow us to expand opportunities for our children.  Below is a brief history of our unspent authorized budget showing a health line of $900,000.

As you can see through our enrollment predictions and unspent authorized budget, I fully believe Central is here to stay for a long time.  Add in our vibrant community, to continue being vibrant we need our school district.  I've entertained two perspective doctors in the last couple months, they don't move to our community without a school district.  One has already signed a contract!  

We will always have challenges because of our size and location.  Being innovative and creative will allow Central flexibility to meet these challenges.  One of our greatest challenges is addressing our aging facility to create a safe, accessible, and collaborative learning environment.  

As always, any questions just ask and feel free to share this with others who may be misinformed.

My letter to Representative Branhagen

Representative Branhagen,

Not only am I writing as the educational leader of Central, I am writing as a parent of a public education preschool student, middle school student, and high school student.

As a republican, how can you support "big" government control?  Our kids in northeast Iowa work at our community pools and local businesses, not the State Fair and Okoboji.  Where do you stand on the school start date and how did you vote?  The House "compromise" bill is anything but a compromise.  Will you support the Senate bill that allows for local school board control?

I am also working with other northeast Iowa school districts that you were elected to represent.  We are putting together data that shows the negative affect to our schools the 1.25% increase you voted in favor of will have.  Our data will show a loss of jobs for working adults in our communities and a loss of programs for our kids.  It will also show an increase in taxes to our property owners.  

The few times we have met face-to-face you have cited a private business model.  You stated and I quote, "how great would it be if we got this type of performance and Iowa was ranked 50th in funding?"  I challenge you to name a private business that has been successful without reinvesting funds and resources back into their business?  I would also challenge you to name big government regulations (ie. mandatory school start date) that enhance private business.  We all know regulations run private business into the ground and limit innovation. 

Northeast Iowa voters support their public schools.  So far your voting record has not echoed the people you represent.

Central Continues To Work On Stronger Communication

Since becoming superintendent/elementary principal of Central we have developed a parent survey given during fall conferences.  This survey collects feedback from our stakeholders and helps us in making decisions to improve all aspect of the Central Community School District.  In 2013/2014 we collected around 50 responses, in the 2014/2015 survey we collected 100 responses.  This doubles the previous year's survey and I hope is a sign that our "customers" are seeing that we value their input.

While most of the survey questions were very positive, one question in both years of the survey has remained a concern.  That question is: I feel communication between parents and teachers is strong.  In both years of the survey, this question has only gotten a 35% yes answer.  During our January 15th professional development I shared this data with our staff and we had much discussion on why the low score and how we could work on improving this score.

Many of us owned the fact we sometimes don't do the greatest job of updating our class site, blogs (it has been January since I last posted here), and social media outlets.  We have all agreed to make a concentrated effort to improve on this, and because of that you will see a couple changes in the way we communicate:

1. Central now has a Facebook page.  If you haven't been following, please do!  We post a ton of information and pictures of our students engaged in learning.  Please become a follower and share our page with others.
2. Our district website is another great source of information.  Our technology committee is also researching other district sites as we look to improve our website for the 2015/2016 school year.  Through our district website you can get anything from board policy to teacher class websites.  You can even link directly to my Blog!
3. Recently I approved the purchase of a program called Planbook.  This program will allow parents to see each teacher's lesson plans.  This program also allows teachers to attach important information to the daily lesson as well as align to the Iowa Core State Standards.  

I will also continue to use School Reach to send important updates.  I know this can be a little overkill when you receive an email, text message, and phone call.  Still, we want to make sure you are getting the information you need.  

Please feel free to comment back on my Blog with other suggestions we can use to improve our communication or email me directly.  I look forward to hearing from you and working together to strengthen Central Community School District.