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Superintendent’s Message
Mr. Todd A. Martin
July 2019
Greetings Fellow Eagles!
I sincerely hope this correspondence finds you all having an amazing summer filled with time to rejuvenate and you are gearing your family up for another successful school year!
With the start of the year quickly approaching, staff has spent a significant amount of time this summer preparing for the return of our kids. They have engaged in curricular work to ensure our guaranteed and viable curriculum is rigorous, aligned, and well thought out for high level learning; we have worked to train up lead teams in our Social, Emotional, Behavioral, Mental Health (SEBMH) learning to continue moving our organization toward a greater health and success; and staff have engaged in several, more tailored learning opportunities, aligned to their individual building goals, i.e. Standards Referenced Grading, Lucy Caulkins Training, Project Lead the Way/Career Tech Education, Collaborative Problem Solving, Teacher Leadership Compensation (TLC/TAP), Literacy Training, etc…. All of this adult learning will, undoubtedly, increase our capacity to impact student learning and ultimately achievement.
In addition to staff preparing for a great 2019-20 school year, there are facility improvements underway at each school campus. Major projects include the Woodside Classroom Renovations Project (5th grade classrooms and SPED Level III Classroom); Woodside Hot Water Conversion Project (boiler system); and Saydel Tennis Court Project. Also note we have several flooring, lighting (LED), roofing, concrete work and annual maintenance work items being completed over the summer as well. Please look for these campus upgrades as we begin the school year.
The last topic we would appreciate your attention with is our upcoming bond referendum. We will hold a special election, for the bond referendum and vacant board seat, on September 10, 2019 to fund improvements at all three building sites.
The proposed facility improvements are founded on four driving factors:
1. Safety of our buildings and ground
2. Modernization of the academic learning environment
a. Update Instructional Environment
b. Enhance Fine Arts Facilities
3. Further market our community through facility enhancements
4. Fiscally manage our resources to maintain current tax rate
The bond referendum will ensure we plan forward, by investing in our community, for the next twenty years, and will be issued for $20,625,000 in which we will need a supermajority or greater than 60% approval rating. We are confident we can achieve this with “NO TAX INCREASE” and substantially benefit all learners across our district. Furthermore, the timeline for the upgrades falling inside the scope of the project will include an 18-month construction window and will have little impact on learning throughout the school year. Please see our website for additional details and updates as we progress with the referendum.
Thank you to the community for your ongoing support of our work in the district and to our Board Members. As always, if you have questions and/or comments I am happy to take a call or sit down and talk.
Respectfully,
Todd A. Martin
Superintendent of Schools
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