Heights B.O.E. sets goals, priorities

Every year, the Jackson Heights USD 335 Board of Education reviews and takes action on a district-wide list of goals and priorities, and in recent years, one of the long-range goals has been renovating the high school track.

This year, District Superintendent and Elementary Principal Adrianne Walsh is relieved to get track renovations off the list. But with the track project nearing completion, Walsh said it remains to be seen which high-priority, long-range item will be next to come off the list.

The Jackson Heights board approved the 2015-16 list of goals and priorities at its Oct. 12 meeting, taking time to discuss new additions to the list as well as considering taking action on items that have been on that list for a few years. Members also noted that taking the track renovation project off that list remains contingent on getting a few smaller tasks completed.

“We still need to take care of the stadium fencing and the concrete that was talked about at the last meeting, and we still need to finish the throwing areas,” Walsh said of the track renovation project. “We’ve also talked about putting another practice area on our practice field south of the statdium by the other throwing area. That’s going to be one of the final pieces to put into the puzzle before we host our first track meet.”

The district’s annual list of goals and priorities is divided into six categories — curriculum and instruction, personnel, school/community relations, student activities, operations and capital outlay. Each category is subdivided into smaller lists of long-range goals and short-range priorities, discussed below.

* Capital outlay. The track renovation had been a long-range capital outlay goal, but with its removal from the list, the district is now turning its focus to maintaining a district vehicle fleet as an ongoing long-range goal. Last year, the district purchased a new vehicle and replaced a school bus as short-range priority accomplishments toward that goal; now, the district is looking at possibly replacing a district utility truck.

Other ongoing long-range capital outlay goals include continuing to build the balance in the district’s capital outlay fund and getting an air-conditioning system installed in the elementary school gym. Under short-range priorities, repairing drainage issues and leaks around district buildings, repairing the high school awning and enclosing fuel tanks at the bus barn continue to be of high importance.

An issue with possible water leaks at the high school weight room was mentioned during the Oct. 12 meeting by board member Ed Rostetter, who noted that some students who use the weight room have noticed a “moisture problem” and are “telling me that stuff’s still getting rusty down in that area.” Walsh and High School Principal Darren Shupe said at the time that they would continue to look into the matter.

* Curriculum and instruction. Walsh said now that a new reading series for fourth through sixth grades has been adopted, the district can focus on implementing a new English language arts (ELA) curriculum for students in seventh through ninth grades. She also noted that it has been at least nine years — the length of time she has been with the district — since the last ELA program was implemented.

“Standards have changed,” Walsh said. “It’s not just enough to comprehend and answer questions about a story. It’s more about taking something from a story and using it to answer another question — to draw inferences, or to use parts of a text and support your thinking in a written answer.”

Topics in the new ELA curriculum will be of more interest to students, she added, and it will be a “more uniform” program for seventh through ninth grades, whereas the “old configurations” had been divided into kindergarten through fifth grades, sixth through eighth grades and high school. The new program, she said, also “seems to be more fluid with the transition between grade levels.”

Also new on the list of instructional short-range priorities is the addition of Full Option Science System (FOSS) kits at the elementary school. Walsh said the district is looking at grants to purchase a number of the kits, which emphasize a research-based science curriculum for both teachers and students.

“They really are wonderful, and they’re kind of expensive,” she said of the FOSS kits. “But we love the learning that is taking place with kids.”

Other short-range priorities in curriculum and instruction include exploring preparation options for ACT testing, enhancing career readiness and awareness for students and promoting higher-level thinking activities in classrooms.

The main long-range goal continues to be developing technology-literate students, and Walsh said the primary focus there is in teaching basic skills to younger students. One example she cited involved typing classes for younger elementary students.

“It’s getting to where seventh-grade keyboarding is a little too late,” she said. “We’re trying to do some of those kinds of things earlier… Our charge as a school system is to do all these things for kids — learning the basics, learning to be problem-solvers and critical thinkers, figuring out how technology fits in — it’s about trying to make it all work together.”

* Personnel. Walsh said she has been asked to reinstate an English teaching position for middle and high school, a new item in personnel short-range priorities, and continue to look at replacing the family and consumer sciences (FACS) position, an ongoing item on that list. Also added to the personnel short-term list this year is reinstating the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program.

“We did have that until state funding ran out for it,” Walsh said of the district’s PAT program. “That was a really good thing while we had it.”

Hiring an elementary school counselor, a long-range goal, and increasing the bus driver pool, a short-term priority, remained on the list from the previous year. One addition to the short-term list involved increasing the list of available classroom substitutes, board members noted.

* School/community relations. Board members have noted the recent replacement of graduating class composite photos in the high school lobby with a “digital alumni board,” and Walsh said Shupe and District Technology Director Vern Andrews are continuing to add photos, digitized yearbook pages and alumni information to the board. Digitizing senior pictures has been a long-range district goal for some time, it was noted.

Under short-term priorities, Walsh listed the placement of a promotional video created by JHHS media students for the school on the district’s Web site, as well as the creation of a middle school class course handbook. Concerning the latter, she said the high school has its handbook on the district Web site, and having a similar option for middle school students would be a welcome addition to the site.

* Student activities. Under short-range priorities, increasing the number of high school students who participate in vocational/technical classes through Washburn Tech was encouraged by Walsh. This year, only four students are participating, she said, but for next year, the district may have as many as 15 students participating.

Other short-term student activity priorities included exploring ways to support student athletes during the summer months, basketball activities for third through sixth grades and moving the middle school track record board to the high school. Long-range goals included the expansion of high school sports and leadership programs and the development of an after-school program for elementary students.

* Operations. Long-range goals here continued to include maintenance of a district technology plan and a list of goals and priorities, development of a facilities and custodial plan and updates to the district’s emergency crisis plan. Short-range priorities included researching and writing grants to fund school programs and securing the back door at the high school.