A New School Year Brings Excitement and Hope

I want to welcome everyone to new and excitingschool year in Simpson County Schools! This time of year always seems to bring a sense of hope and excitement for a fresh start and a new beginning to the school year. We plan to capitalize on this to help every student have a great start to school in hopes of ensuring success for each student we serve. Our vision is to be the best school system in the state of Kentucky that graduates productive and caring citizens who are prepared to succeed in life. To that end, our mission is simple – successfully educating every child we serve. This is very challenging work because the needs of individual students can be so unique,requiring us to work in new ways to accomplish this important goal. There are five fundamental questions that drive ourmission in our schools:

  1. Do we have a clear plan for building positive, professional relationships with students, their families and one another?
  2. Do we have clear procedures for making sure we are teaching the standards that we expect all students to know and be able to do?
  3. Do we have clear procedures for making sure our students have learned the standards?
  4. Do we have clear procedures for making sure we “fix it” when students fall short of the standards?
  5. Do we have clear procedures for providing enrichment strategies for students who are already meeting or exceeding our learning goals?

Our guiding questions show we value the following:

Building positive relationships;

Teaching to standards;

Assessing student learning to guide instructional and learning decisions;

Interventions for students who need extra support meeting the standards;

Enrichments for students who meet or exceed the standards.

We will maintain a sharp focus on these guiding questions and values in our work throughout the 2010-2011 school year. In order to accomplish this vision/mission on behalf of our children, we must work together – students, staff, parents and community. We have the resources and ingredients for a great school system. First and foremost, we have many wonderful students with an array of talents and abilities. Our teachers, administrators and support personnel are top-notch people committed to students and their well-being. Our Board of Education:Nancy, Bunton, Greg Coker, Brigette Crawford, Wes Stone and David Webster,are focused on student achievement and efficient operations to drive high levels of performance throughout our school system. We have so many supportive and involved parents who are our partners in the school system. We invite and encourage every parent to be involved and informed. Finally, we have the most supportive community that enhances and enriches the lives’ of our students in so many ways. We are very appreciative for the many ways our community contributes to our school system and invite continued involvement, support and contribution to our schools.

We have worked hard this summer in planning and preparing for a great 2010-2011 school year. Our district leadership team developed the following priorities for our work this year:

  1. Build and foster a high performance culture that ensures positive, enduring professional relationships that are the foundation of all initiatives.
  2. Execute productive professional learning community days through intentional vertical and horizontal collaboration to answer our five guiding questions.
  3. Recruitment, retention, and development of high quality staff members in all positions.
  4. All students will perform at or above grade level in reading, writing, and math with appropriate interventions and enrichments to meet individual learner needs.
  5. Provide rigorous and relevant instruction that engages students, promotes independent thinking, problem-solving and creativity.

We have a great team of people at our Central Officewho will work to make these priorities reality on behalf of our students. Tom Stewart, Teacher Quality and Leadership Development Coordinator, lends his skills and efforts to support professional development and growth for our teachers and leaders. Sheila Baugh, Specialized Instructional Program Coordinator, will continue leading our efforts to implement effective intervention supports for students who need extra help meeting our learning goals. Helping us recruit and hire the very best folks to work with and around our students is Milli McIntosh, Director of Human Resources. Joey Kilburnis our DPP/ Student Support Services Coordinator. He leads and supports efforts to make our school safe and healthy places for students to learn and grow. Our newest District Leader is Amanda DeWeese who heads up our finance and business operations divisions. Max Doty, our Operations Manager, leads our maintenance, transportation and custodial services. Sarah Richardson heads up our Food Service Program and Scot Perdue is our District Technology Coordinator. Our School Psychologists, Michelle Antle and Ashley McGinnis provide expertise and support for students with special needs. Another new member of our district leadership team is Denise Reetzke. As our Gifted Education and Adolescent Literacy Consultant, Mrs. Reetzke will be enhancing and delivering gifted services for students and promoting and supporting literacy initiatives across the district. None of us could do our jobs well without the help of our administrative support staff – Julie Traughber, Ruth Britt, Lesley Forshee, Tammy Cinkan, Sharon Miller, Melissa Franklin and Michelle Guess. Our Central Office teamis focused on providing exemplary leadership, service and support to our schools centered on the learning needs of our students. Feel free to contact us at 586-8877 for assistance with any issue, need or question you may have about our school system.

We are continuously striving to improve our school system on behalf of our students and community. In order to make continuous progress, we need our community to be interested and engaged in our schools. Therefore, I am inviting you to join our mission of successfully educating every child in Simpson County Schools. And as always, we welcome your feedback – positive or negative – on the job we’re doing serving the youth of SimpsonCounty. Remember, investing in our youth is an investment in our future – and our children are worth our commitment, time and resources!