New Gallatin R-5 superintendent offers perspective on new school year … by Dennis Croy

The 2010-2011 school year is off to a great start. We have lots of bright, smiling faces that are eager to learn. That is a pleasant challenge that our school accepts each day.

Education has evolved into a complex situation. Instead of just being able to teach young people and worrying about the 3 Rs, we have to take into consideration governmental regulations, finances, curriculum, mandatory standardized testing, legal issues, and personnel questions, along with what seems to be about a thousand other problems.

Here at Gallatin we are doing our best to provide an outstanding education for the children of our district. This begins with our board of education. We have a strong, committed group that serves the interest of our teachers, pupils and staff. They volunteer their time and are true servant-leaders. I can tell you that they put the best interest of the school at the forefront of every one of their decisions.

This is a rather thankless job, yet they are there and represent you quite well. If you see one of our board members I encourage you to thank them for the good job that they do seeing after the education of our children. We also have a strong staff. From our principals to our custodians, from our teachers to our bus drivers, and from our aides and secretaries to our cooks, we have good people here that care about children.

I would put our faculty and staff up against that of any school regardless of size. We have talented, dedicated professionals in Gallatin. Each of our programs and classes are led by competent individuals who are poised to lead our students towards new goals and levels of success this year. That is certainly my expectation for them.

We are stressing the team concept this year more than ever before. Everyone here is important. This is true for the students as well as the faculty and staff. Everyone has value! The result of this fine team is the fact that Gallatin has done so well on our Annual Performance Report, or APR. We have met the standard in each of the 14 measured areas in the past and plan to continue this outstanding rate of success.

While we are in "school improvement" in regards to our AYP or Average Yearly Progress report, we are certainly still proud of the job that we are doing with our students. Under the No Child Left Behind federal legislation schools are mandated to make predetermined progress for all students, regardless of situation or ability until every child is at the proficient level or above in math and language arts by 2014.

Currently, far less than 1/3 of schools in our state are progressing at the prescribed rate. By the projected date of completion for this legislation every school in the state will have failed and be in "improvement." However, we do realize that we need to be better and that the achievement and success of our students is the most important thing that we deal with. We are working toward that end.

An area that we are all concerned about here at school is that of finance. I will begin by stating that the Gallatin R-V district is in sound financial shape. Financial planning by Mr. Ruse and sound decisions by the Board of Education have allowed us to build sound balances that will see us through these difficult times.

With this in mind, it is evident that we are going to have to tighten our collective belts here at school. We need to be conservative in our spending and we have to find ways to save and stretch our dollars. We are certainly getting less from the state and in addition our tax revenues are declining as well. It is easy to speculate where you would make a cut until that reduction has an impact on you or your child. Then the issue becomes much more clouded. That is the challenge that I face each day. These decisions will be tough, but I guarantee that they will be made fairly and with a great deal of consideration.

If anyone has questions about bus routes, lunches or other school issues, contact us. We can’t fix a problem if we don’t know about it. Don’t assume that we know and that we are just choosing to ignore the problem. This will not be the case.

Communication will be the key to a successful year. Many of the problems that we deal with on a regular basis seem silly or trivial, until your child is involved. Then they might seem quite serious. We won’t always agree on the best avenue to choose to solve a problem, but rest assured that we are concerned about your child, and every other child here at school. Our responsibility is to do the best job for every student under our care. That is exactly what we aim to do.

I realize that there will be differences of opinion and problems that will arise during the year. However I do ask that you follow the chain of command and talk to the teachers first. If this does not work, then we invite you to talk to one of the principals. If that does not solve your problem you can then contact the Superintendent, and as a final solution you might have a hearing with the Board of Education. Our school policy outlines this plan of action.

I really appreciate the Gallatin community for being so supportive of the school. l am certainly excited to be back home and to have the opportunity to work with this fine group of people and what I consider to be the best bunch of kids in Missouri. I am sure that they are going to make us all proud this year. From academics to sports, from student council to clubs, and from band to FACS, FBLA and FFA our students will achieve and succeed! I invite you to support them along the way. The doors are open and after all, it is your school. Be a part of it!