Hello Teachers and Staff:

Last year I began sharing with staff and community groups information about pursuing a bond project. Throughout the course of this school year I will be regularly updating you with information regarding the progress and process. I am pleased to share with you that this week we launched the first Bond Community Committee kick-off meeting. This meeting marked an important step in our efforts to enhance and improve our school facilities. The extreme heat this week solidifies the need for facilities improvements, specific to HVAC updates, that will be directly impacted by a bond project.

During the kick-off meeting, we began to discuss the potential timeline as well as began to create the guiding principals for the group. The meeting served as an excellent platform for open and productive discussions about our school's future development.

Key Points from the Kick-off Meeting:

1. Individual Staff Input: In the coming weeks, the DLR Group will be available to meet with individual staff members in our school buildings. This is an invaluable opportunity for you to share your insights, needs, and ideas regarding the improvements you believe are essential to creating an optimal learning environment. Your input is crucial to the success of this project, and we encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity.
2. Community and Staff Surveys: We are committed to gathering as much feedback as possible to inform the bond project's direction. In addition to individual meetings, we will be conducting more extensive staff and community surveys. These surveys will allow us to gather a wide range of perspectives and ideas, ensuring that our project reflects the diverse needs and preferences of our school community.

We greatly appreciate your engagement and commitment to this important endeavor. Your input will shape the future of our school, and we are dedicated to keeping you informed and involved throughout the process. The bond project is one more avenue in Building Successful Futures: Every student. Every Day.

#WeAre409

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Remember to use the #WeAre409 and tag @doc_nuge when you tweet!

Classroom Connection

This week I was able to get into 61 classrooms, a good start to my goal of 800! Many of the highlights of these visits tie directly to multiple Visible Learning high impact strategies. For example, in every building I witnessed examples of direct references and/or explicity teaching of learner dispositions. Not only did I visibly see learning intentions and success criteria posted (super shoutout to AHS--saw this in nearly every room!), I also witnessed teachers making connections to the learning intentions and more importantly, when I asked students across building what they were learning, they were able to share that information with me. Amazing!

Student engagement strategies were also dynamite this week! In culinary class, students were experiencing the taste, touch, and smells of various herbs. In art classes, students were creating portraits at AMS and some clay structures at AHS. At Central, the social studies teacher was using the first few minutes of class to build relationships with students by getting to know them at their level. At AES the review of site words and letter patterns involved visual, touch, and vocal interactions with sounds and letters. Although all of these examples seem common-sense, they all were planned with intentionality and were in full alignment with the standards and competencies of each situation.

Being committed to implementation of Visible Learning strategies is a direct investment in Building Successful Futures: Every student. Every Day.

#WeAre409

Staff Spotlight

Please remember to submit your peer recognitions for a superintendent staff spotlight in each of my weekly shoutouts by noon each Friday.

From an AES Staff Member: I would like to give a shout out to the AES ADMIN!!! This year we changed the lunch process to have a whole grade eat together on one side. The administrators have been in the lunchroom everyday to help, they wash tables, help get the students where they need to be. They talk to the teachers working lunch duty to see how we feel the lunch process can be improved and make changes as they see fit. Great Job we appreciate all the help!!!!

From an AES Staff Member: I want to shoutout Amy Noll. She works tirelessly with students and families across the district. She establishes healthy, safe relationships with them; she teaches them how important healthy boundaries and relationships are. Even though that's not her primary role, she is still doing it all! She becomes a reliable, consistent, caring adult in the lives of many students in need, and I see how much she cares about them every single day. She is an incredible asset to our USD 409 family, and our students, their families, and us as her peers are so lucky to have her advocating and supporting our students! Thank you for your hard work, Amy! It does not go unnoticed! 

From a Parent: I’d like to recognize Miss Kayla at the elementary school. She is outside every morning greeting the students and helping them out of cars with a smile on her face and a pleasant “good morning.” At the end of the day she is at park and pick up calling students as quickly and efficiently as possible. Kayla is an important part of our school and we appreciate her.

From an AMS Staff member: I would like to give a large shout out to Jenifer Dryden and the school secretaries for all of the hard work they have put into registration this year. I know this is a huge assignment but they have all worked together to complete the tasks required.

#WeAre409

I am taking a short break from all of the wedding festivities to get this shoutout to all staff--I am sending this from Garden City, Kansas where we are preparing the venue for the rehearsal dinner tonight and the big day tomorrow. Its fun to take a break and look at all of the awesome happenings happening in USD 409 in only two, short, HOT weeks!

Above are only some of the wonderful examples of the GREAT education happening in USD 409. I believe in you, and I thank you for all you do!

Dr. Renee L. Nugent

#WeAre409