Superintendent Letter to Staff

Colleagues,

Let's do a mid-year check-in as we end the first semester and start the second half of our school year. You have accomplished a great deal.

Accomplishments:

• Renewed our commitment to Inspiring and Engaging every student
• Investigated the power of the Relevant WHY
• Improved attendance at the start of school
• Celebrated improved 4 th and 5 th grade reading outcomes
• Celebrated improved 8 th grade math outcomes
• Added dual credit classes to SCHS
• Knocked out a concentrated long stretch of learning time in the fall
• Piloted math resource materials
• Increased focus on explicit reading instruction in grades 1 and 2
• Finalized Social Emotional Learning Standards for the district
• Finalized a revised Secondary Course of Study that provides students a well-rounded education
• Expanded our world class orchestra program
• Supported Elementary BCB robotics teams who took first and second in the regional tournament and several trophies at the state tournament
• Led Wood River Bike Club who  placed first in State
• Hosted a month of outstanding Holiday Concerts
• Sent Holiday Greetings to our community with a musical message from WRHS musicians and SCHS recording studio technicians
• Celebrated being named to the AP Honor Roll for increased participation in AP classes while maintaining student success in the classes
• Hosted Educator for a Day
• Construction Academy students participated in the Sun Valley Economic Development Forum on Workforce Housing
• Hosted Block Fest for Children ages 3 to 8
• Implemented prevention and intervention support for students struggling with substance abuse
• Balanced the Budget
• Launched an updated website
• Shoveled mountains of snow
• Navigated busloads of precious children to school and home safely
• Developed procedures to support a Gender Inclusion Policy
• Expanded our virtual field trips for our students

And a whole lot more!  What else would you add to this list?

As we go into this second semester, let's finish strong.

Next Steps:

• Launch middle grades choice for families: WRMS and Hemingway STEAM
• Continue to improve elementary reading outcomes
• Continue to increase the number of students engaging successfully with advanced opportunities
• Increase student engagement in learning
• Decrease the achievement gap and/or opportunity gap while raising the bar for all students
• Support students below grade level in participating in grade level learning
• Celebrate our successes at the end of another great year!

I appreciate each and every member of the BCSD family that comes to work every day determined to make a difference in the lives of our children and especially those children that are the most vulnerable. This is not easy work or for the faint of heart. The fact that we choose to do this each day is an incredible demonstration of humanity at its best.  Thank you.

With gratitude,

GwenCarol

Your colleagues are planning an engaging day focused on Student Voice.  Pictured above is the Teacher Advisory Committee "Engagement" group Skyping with Dr. Quaglia.

Friday, February 17 with Dr. Russ Quaglia

8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. at Wood River High School Gym

Continental Breakfast

Pictured left to right, Marcia Grabow, Angie Martinez, Aaron Bronson and Debi Gutknecht.

Our district work in regard to the Achievement Gap is continuing. At the February board meeting, the Board of Trustees engaged in an energetic conversation about the achievement gap and asked for a list of current and future actions to address the gap. See the board memo here. To start this work, the strategic planning committee spent time reviewing the District Strategic Plan to identify keys areas within each goal that move the needle on the achievement gap. The committee identified the following:

Goal 1: Inspire, Objective 3: Autonomy for students by increasing voice, choice, responsibility and ownership for students

Goal 2: Engage, Objective 3: Authentic experiences with field trips, internships, personal projects, WOW and other community activities, PBL, Educator for a Day

Goal 3: Educate, Objective 2: Instructional strategies focused to address the opportunity gap and provide access to core rigorous content for students by increasing co-teaching and academic language instruction, targeted professional development, and literacy instruction

Goal 4: Empower, Objective 2: Alignment of SEL curriculum and assessments through our adopted SEL standards, developing curriculum within each school and in alignment with PBIS and restorative practices work already in progress

2017 Spring Professional Development Series - Sign up now!

You will need to be logged into the staff portal to access the workshop information. The first class begins February 16th. Some spaces have limited enrollment, so first come, first served. Thank you to the BCSD staff members who will be hosting these workshops for their colleagues!

Math Materials Adoption ~  Pilot Complete!

A special thank you to the 52 K-HS pilot teachers from across the district and the Math Materials Adoption Committee and Task Force who has been working on this project for a year and a half. The materials being recommended are those that most flexibly align with BCSD K-HS math curriculum, instruction and assessment.  They were found to be most effective by teachers and students. The recommended core math materials for BCSD are Ready Common Core Math (Curriculum Associates) for Kindergarten-8th grade and Big Ideas Math (Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt) for Algebra I and II and Geometry. The committee will be making the recommendation to the Board at the February 21st meeting. Recommendations for upper division math textbooks are determined separately and will be made soon. Materials may arrive and be distributed before the end of school year. Training will be provided before students arrive next fall.