The Report Card by Gallatin R-5 Superintendent Dennis Croy
Dec 15, 2010 | School News |
It seems as though we just started school and already we are nearing the end of the semester and are ready to celebrate the holidays. It has been a busy year here at school. We have a lot going on. Our main emphasis is on academics and as most of you know, we have gone back to the seven period day. This decision was made in order to give our students more time on task for learning. I feel that this was a good decision. It allows our teachers to see the students every day. We hope that this eventually translates into higher scores on standardized tests and students that are better prepared to meet the challenges of college or the work force.
It has taken a while to adjust from the block schedule that we had been on for several years, back to hourly classes. I think that this transition is now nearly complete and that work and study pattens have sorted themselves out.
We want to thank parents, students and teachers for their patience in working through this challenging time. Keep in mind that the best interest of the students are always our top priority.
It is a challenging time to be in education. There are several topics that are making headlines in this area. Some of the things that you may be hearing about include the budget, safety and violence prevention, open enrollment and consolidation, testing and accountability, and teacher qaulity and compensation. All of these topics may affect our district.
Certainly the budget concerns top the list right now. Missouri is currently educating 926,842 students at a cost of $6,793,957,096. The biggest single expense that our state government has is spent on education. The money is divided up by means of what is known as the "Foundation Formula." This is administered by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Given that our state constitution has a provision for a balanced budget, and that cuts are being made in other areas in order to try to balance our shortfalls, it is only common sense to realize that it is only a matter to time until education suffers its own share of the state budget cuts. We can expect this to happen this year, and for this trend to continue for another two or three years. This is going to affect our school.
Our challenge is to continue to provide the best and most comprehensive education possible with the money available. We will do our best to minimize costs, but our real challenge is the fact that income is lower than it has been in some time.
The biggest share of our funding is from the state. However, our local funds make up almost as much as the state share. Because of lower tax collections and other factors, this amount is going down for all the schools in our area. This means that there will have to be cuts made to our budget, and this will affect programs.
At this time Gallatin has over 600 students from grades K-12. Our Board of Education will be making some tough decisions this spring. These will be made with the best interests of all of our students as our number one priority. If you listen to the news, some of our governmental officials would have us believe that we can reduce taxes and increase benefits and productivity in the process. I am afraid this is impossible.
Another hot topic is the Missouri School Improvement Program. Normally referred to as MoSIP, this is the way that schools are evaluated and certified. This is done by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on a cyclical basis. We are about to enter the fifth cycle for this program. It is currently undergoing a great deal of scrutiny by administrators, teachers, DESE personnel, legislators and the state school board. Its initial form was not particularly well accepted by educators and some revisions have already been made. I hope that common sense will prevail in how this is finally written and applied in our state.
As time goes by I believe that open enrollment will at some point become a reality in our state. This is another area that will affect our school, although for better or worse is yet to be seen. Some feel that this, along with funding will become the factors that finally force the consolidation of many small schools in our state. We will see if this proves to be the case.
There are other topics that will have an effect on public schools this year, and I invite you to support education by contacting your representatives and letting them know what you think about those topics. Hearing from you does make a difference and it is the responsibility of every citizen to take part in the working of their government. After all, we all want our share of the pie and when it comes to education, we all want what is best for "our kids."
The sign up for the board of education election is at hand. We invite interested candidates to come to the school and put your name on the line. The election will be in April, and we always need good people that are willing to volunteer their time and talent to help our school.
The third quarter is always a busy time here at school. Not only are we busy with classes, we are in the heart of both the wrestling and basketball seasons. We appreciate the good support that our community gives to our student athletes.
A point of emphasis that our school is stressing right now is sportsmanship. If you have attended an event lately, we are passing out a letter from our administration, along with tips from the Missouri State High School Athletic Association. This information outlines our beliefs in how our students and fans should act at our competitive events. I hope that you will take time to look over this information if you are attending a game or meet. We come to the contest to root for our students and to support them in a positive way. We are not there to criticize the officials or make rude comments. We will leave that for others. Gallatin has a long tradition of doing the right thing and having good kids and good fans. We need to take pride in that, and make sure that we always continue to set a good example with our behavior.
As we prepare to enjoy the Christmas vacation, we invite everyone to enjoy one of the many school events that are going on. All of our teachers, staff and administrators want to wish our community a very merry Christmas and happy new year. May 2011 be a joyous time for you and your family.
