Convocation
A few years ago, our superintendent Dr. Kevin Dirth, thought that it was important for all of our district employees to get together once a year as a unit. After all, we are all one school district, right? So he started an annual MRUSD Convocation. This year it happened on Friday August 23,and I was fortunate to be able to attend.
As you can see, Collins Perley was packed! It was great to see everyone together in one place.
The star of last year’s convocation was a performance by the newly formed Maple Run Speak Chorus, featuring students from all of our schools, grades 6 - 12. Their performance was so powerful that they ended up performing multiple times, including before a statewide educator conference and even the State Board of Education!
They came back again this year, this time including students from grades 4 - 12, and somehow they topped last year’s performance!
Then the students got to lead all of the teachers in an activity focusing on teamwork and communication. They were very excited to be the ones in charge! It’s amazing what the students in our District are capable of.
Grade School Early Dismissal
The board received an update on the Early Dismissal on Fridays that the grade schools are going to be using this year. Basically, on Fridays, all students in our grade schools will be released one hour earlier than their normal time. This is to give teachers at least one hour per week to work together, improve instruction practices, and study and make use of data. The end goal is to make instruction better and improve student outcomes.
A great FAQ has been created with answers to lots of common questions that parents have had. You can see it by clicking on this link:
Construction Projects
Our Assistant Superintendent Bill Kimball gave us an update on the Fairfield and BFA constructions projects.
If you have forgotten, at Fairfield we are building an addition with new classroom space in order to stop using the Common School for art and music. The parking lot will also get drainage and pavement. Currently, the site plan is being finalized - there were some issues with property boundaries and required setbacks, but those have been resolved. We hope to start work in the spring and everything should be complete by the first day of the 2020-2021 school year.
The BFA project is larger, involving repairs to the North building, installation of sprinklers in the South building, and building an enclosed connector between the two buildings. Right now we are looking at different parking lot solutions - we might even end up with more additional parking spaces than we originally hoped! It also looks like we will move the bus loop to the East side of the connector, allowing it to be closer to the new connector and avoiding Main Street traffic. We are still working on the BFA timeline, but hope to start work this winter.
New Assistant Principal at BFA
We have hired a new Assistant Principal at BFA to replace Shannon Warden, who left to take a position closer to home. Please welcome Sara Kattam. She comes to us with 10 years of experience in education, including work in curriculum development. She is already fitting in well with the rest of the BFA admin team, and I’m sure that she will do well. She is focused on student learning, which fits in well with our District.
Final Words
I think that our District is in a great place. We’ve completed the work of merging individual districts, boards, staffs, and cultures. We are now one District and are gaining the benefits of that. As shown at convocation, all of our teachers are working together, working towards common goals. We are focused as a District on students, and their learning. I am looking forward to this school year. I think we have a lot of opportunities and a lot to accomplish.
The BFA project is larger, involving repairs to the North building, installation of sprinklers in the South building, and building an enclosed connector between the two buildings. Right now we are looking at different parking lot solutions - we might even end up with more additional parking spaces than we originally hoped! It also looks like we will move the bus loop to the East side of the connector, allowing it to be closer to the new connector and avoiding Main Street traffic. We are still working on the BFA timeline, but hope to start work this winter.
New Assistant Principal at BFA
We have hired a new Assistant Principal at BFA to replace Shannon Warden, who left to take a position closer to home. Please welcome Sara Kattam. She comes to us with 10 years of experience in education, including work in curriculum development. She is already fitting in well with the rest of the BFA admin team, and I’m sure that she will do well. She is focused on student learning, which fits in well with our District.
Final Words
I think that our District is in a great place. We’ve completed the work of merging individual districts, boards, staffs, and cultures. We are now one District and are gaining the benefits of that. As shown at convocation, all of our teachers are working together, working towards common goals. We are focused as a District on students, and their learning. I am looking forward to this school year. I think we have a lot of opportunities and a lot to accomplish.
