Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Last week several members of our leadership team spent time in Des Moines, IA at the School Administrators of Iowa Conference.  It was a great time of professional learning, networking, and connecting as a team.  It was time well spent as there was new learning, ideas to borrow and build on, and information presented that validates the work we are doing as a district.

I had a few minutes to visit with a friend of mine at the conference who is a retired superintendent who is also familiar with the District.  He asked me to share with him some of the noteworthy work that is being done in the District.  There wasn't enough time to share everything I was thinking about as we talked but I was able to share some of the following.

• Expanded preschool to serve four-year-old students full day and added services for three-year-olds.
• Focused on creating more extended learning opportunities for students after school (179 participants) and during the summer (129 participants).
• Further developed STEM and CTE instruction.
• Trained staff to use STEMScopes science instructional resources K-12
• Provided professional learning for two staff members to instruct using Project Lead the Way at the Middle School
• Continued the TEN80 STEM class at the Middle School. Students were invited and competed in their 3^rd national competition and earned a  1^st place ranking.
• Received a grant from the Regional Planning Partnership 13 for new equipment for the CTE programs.
• Initiated student internship programs with community business partners.
• Competed in the Congressional Apps Challenge. Two of our High School Groups finished in the top five for our congressional district.
• Implemented Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (P.B.I.S) at each school. The Elementary School was identified as an emerging P.B.I.S School in Iowa.  Shenandoah CSD is the first to use this model in the GHAEA Region at the preschool level.  
• Demonstrated increased performance on the Iowa Assessments, iReady, and FASTBridge assessments.

The District enjoyed success in many areas last year which are not all listed here, and I can't wait to see what this next year brings for our students and staff. There are areas where the District is finding the need to improve.  However, our staff and leadership team are committed to making continual progress to make Shenandoah CSD a great place to be.

Much of my time this next week will be spent participating in professional learning sessions and spending time connecting and building relationships with our staff.  The days will be full, and that is okay because we are working on preparing for a very special day, the first day of school and an even better school year.