Hey Friends! Busy time in the Hallsville School District, isn't it? Not only is it coming up on Thanksgiving-week, but we're District Champions in Football and have the high school play happening! It sounds like the community is buzzing about two things with the board, so I'll address those first: rumors about lazy teachers and updates around the 4-day school week. Word has spread that there is a belief among important folks that there is a belief that teachers are lazy. Let me try to help set the record straight. I think I am speaking for each board member when I say: none of us think or even thought that teachers are lazy. Even if touchpoints with teachers are rudimentary---it's easy to understand and see additional burdens put on them from the rules/regulatory side to helping students deal with mental health issues to a feeling of pressure of ensuring student outcome improvements. Statistics prove that fewer parents want their children to become teachers, and that broad respect for the profession has decreased significantly in the past 20 years. The State Board of Education sees this, and is trying to address it. This decreasing respect for the teaching profession has led to teaching shortages, especially in key areas. There is a belief that some folks may be opposed to the idea of the 4-day school week because our teachers are lazy and only want to work four-days. Again, I think I'm speaking for the full board when I say: This belief is not held by any board members or of the admin team. I hate that this has been the sentiment of the week, though. Now, to the 4-day school week. The district has a website here, dedicated to showcasing options. This week, Fayette announced they are moving to a four-day week next year. Our district has been methodologically working our way to fully understanding this issue. This includes understanding benefits to staff, student outcome data, added burdens of child care and food security, and even practically looking at draft calendars (which can be found on the website referenced above). Our admin team has committed to whatever calendar we approve that the number of instructional hours must remain the same or very close to it. Even after being in the policy world professionally---I learned something at the board meeting on Monday about this issue. I had not considered the impact to our special education programs and services to children being served in this area. I wish there was solid research here. This is super interesting as we think about student outcomes and we cannot forget how these families will be impacted. I also hadn't really thought about outcomes related to student activities and logistics around scheduling/transporting students at the various levels. For example, is it overly burdensome to ask a middle scool parent to be responsible for both drop-off and pickup of their child in activities on Mondays? Is this an unjust burden when? It's something to consider for our families with fewer resources. Obviously, districts that have made this change have adjusted---but it's something we can't forget. What we're learning and exploring is: does this make sense for us. Lots of folks have opinions, but I hope that as we move forward---and whatever decision is decided--that the community believes that we've been prudent to understand the issue and not rush into this decision. There is a community forum on December 3rd from 6-8PM at the Intermediate Commons. I encourage you to attend. I will not be in attendance due to being in Israel for a trip with my ordination process in the Methodist church. I look forward to hearing how it goes and the feedback that is given, though. Our timeframe for making a calendaring decision is the January meeting. In the end, we'll have to make a decision, and I hope and know our community will move forward---nomatter which side folks may be on. Something that will remain on my and most if not all of the board member's minds will be how can we create our Hallsville "edge" (shout-out to Bryan) for recruiting faculty and staff. Taking a hard look at our faculty and staff salaries and benefits are a piece of that. When we passed the levy increase in 2017, we knew that if we proved to the taxpayers of the direction and have a successful bond project--that we will need to ensuring our wages and benefits are competitive. Look for more here in the coming months. This week, we celebrated the raising of the handprint beam and I encourage you to check out the Facebook photos. It was pretty cool to watch the students observe the beam that they put their handprints on....and also know that these are students who will benefit from the new gymnasium and classroom space next fall. In other news, here are some news bits:
I hope this is helpful. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for reading! Until next time, Craig
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AuthorHallsville resident. Foster Parent. School board member. Politico. Jesus Follower. Cardinals Fan #MizzouMade Archives
June 2020
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