July 7, 2017
Dear Parents, Students and Community Members,
What a difference the passage of another year can make. Your generosity and investment in our students and this school community through last November’s levy passage is already having tremendous stabilizing effects throughout most aspects, if not all, of our educational environment.
As you may recall, we lost approximately 16-18 teachers each summer in 2014 and 2015 due to the District’s financial instability. We cut that number in half last summer and I am ecstatic for our children’s sake to announce that only three teaching staff members have departed this summer to date. The Board hired quality candidates to fill our vacancies including the re-established Elementary Art and Music positions as well as an additional Special Education position. We also welcome new Junior/Senior High teachers in Art, Phys Ed and two Special Education positions. Our students are going to have such a great year that I can hardly wait to get it started. I know. I know. It’s a little early to start talking about the first day of school, but you need to know that I’ve been ready for the first day of school since the last day of school ended!
At the risk of being repetitive from my last letter posted on our District website, here a couple more highlights that occurring as a result of levy passage:
-elimination of pay-to-participate fees;
- negotiated with our teachers and on March 7th approved a new three-year contract;
-significant investments in updating/upgrading our instructional materials;
-investing in a part-time school resource officer (SRO) on site for the
2017-2018 school year;
-partnering with eSchool View to establish the availability to fill out forms online.
In other newsworthy areas, the Administration is busy upgrading our technology infrastructure including our phone system. Our school grounds will begin to look just a little different this summer as we put in place a gravel parking lot on what is now our football practice field. This should greatly reduce the struggle for anyone with mobility issues getting up the hill to watch track, baseball and softball events. It will also provide much better parking opportunities for football games and other events occurring on campus.
That’s the news for now. I hope you have a great remainder of your summer!
Sincerely,
Steve Larcomb
Superintendent of Schools
24 May 2017
It is somewhat difficult for me to wrap my mind around the fact that this is the last week of school for our students. It has been a whirlwind school year! There are so many positive things happening that I’m not sure I can even begin to do it justice in the form of this letter. Our students, staff and indeed this entire community are reinvigorated thanks to passage of our school levy last November. Our school board soon afterwards passed a resolution doing away with pay-to-participate fees as they said they would do. Promise made. Promise kept. The Board recently negotiated with our teachers and on March 7th approved a new three-year contract in which our staff received the first base salary increases in seven years. Another promise made to this community. Another promise kept. On May 11th, our school board hired Elementary art and music teachers for the start of the coming school year. Promise made….
