Superintendent's Column
September 2011
The Results Are In
The Education Summit was a rousing success in getting feedback from the community on how we, as a district, are moving forward.
Thanks to IVS Technologies and SMART Technologies, we were able to incorporate electronic "clickers" into the event and get immediate reaction from over 350 members of the audience on the topics that were being discussed.
We discussed some very complex matters at the Education Summit, and the audience made it very clear that while we are doing a good job with some issues, we still have some work to do on others.
In the areas of legal services, food services and credit recovery programs, we as a district had to make some hard choices about our practices and where we were going with these items in the future. Thankfully, the great majority of summit attendees answered that they either "strongly agreed" or "agreed" that we are on the right path.
In the areas of some of our alternative education programs such as Bounce Back Independent Study High School and school fees at district schools, the majority of respondents "strongly agreed" and "agreed" with our actions. Still, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that students and families are aware of all of their options and the efforts that we have made on behalf of students.
With regards to Proposition O, we will continue to highlight the great things that have been done to improve our campuses and the positive effects that have been made on student learning. The summit audience also reminded us; with 26% of the response saying that they "neither agreed/disagreed" that we need to continue to provide updates about projects and be as transparent as possible in the process.
Implementation of the A-G curriculum drew a mixed response. With 56% of respondents saying they agreed with changing the graduation requirement to A-G, we will be working on ways to increase the number of students who meet this requirement and graduate ready to go to college. The Compact for Success is one of the key elements of the Sweetwater Delta and we will continue to ensure that students reach new levels of academic achievement.
In these very challenging economic times, the topic of finance at the summit was something that was addressed head on. We have come together as a team over the past few years and weathered the storm of fiscal stability. Still, I fear that there are even greater challenges ahead. Fifty-six percent of the audience "strongly agreed" or "agreed" with our actions in finance. As we move forward, I hope that you'll continue to provide your input to us.
Finally, keeping our students healthy and safe is an ongoing priority. An overwhelming majority of the audience at the summit (96%) agreed the district should prohibit synthetic drugs on campus. We have worked with local elected officials and parent groups on ensuring that we are all aware of the dangers of these items.
I want to thank all of you for your hard work and your continued efforts. I hope you will take some time to look at these results and work with us on making Sweetwater the best place it can be.