August 29 - From the Superintendent

Hello, USD 231 Patrons and Employees.

Thank you to our Bus Drivers, HVAC team, and Grounds team!

Last week was one of the hottest on record; however, our bus drivers, HVAC team (Joseph Burger, Tony Farmer), and Grounds team (Michael Green, Loren Baugher, Tyson Thomas, Greg Hamm) went above and beyond to ensure everyone remained safe and as cool as possible during the heat wave! Without their service, we all would have been miserable!

Strategic Plan

As you may recall, this past spring, USD 231 went through the process of developing a strategic plan that will guide our actions and assist in holding one another accountable. My intentions for this year's newsletters are to highlight portions of this work, and keep parents, employees, and the community-at-large, up-to-date on our progress. Today, I write to share about/remind everyone how patron input was gathered. One of the most remarkable aspects of this endeavor was the incredible breadth of representation we achieved.

Understanding the needs of our students, families, community, and staff members is the foundational element of our visioning and strategic planning work. To develop an understanding of the needs of the district as well as the Gardner and Edgerton communities, we leveraged several inputs, including:

• Existing district data, organizational structures, communications, and demographics

• Conversations with district and school leaders

• Data from a community survey that had 1,404 responses included:

  • 99 community members without children in the district

  • 741 parents and guardians

  • 564 employees of USD 231

• Interviews and focus groups with 175 members of the USD 231 community, including:
  

• 13 parents and guardians

• 9 community members without children in the district

• 63 certified staff members

• 25 classified staff members

• 50 students

• 15 members of the Executive Cabinet

• A visioning workshop with district and school leadership

The collective information from these engagement activities provided a clear view of the USD 231 community’s beliefs, goals, strengths, and challenges, which ultimately enabled the development of a vision tailored to the specific needs of the district - which I'll discuss in the next edition.

Until then, I hope the school year continues to be as successful as the first few weeks have demonstrated!

Sincerely,

Brian

#Forwardas23ONE #WeAreUSD231

P.S. - Please follow me on Facebook (@usd231superintendent) and Twitter (@usd231supe) for more frequent updates!

The start of a new school year is a great time to remind everyone of school bus safety. Please take a few minutes to watch the video on the right/above so we can keep our students safe! The video covers important reminders such as:

• What the different lights on the school bus mean
• When to stop at bus stops
• Where to stop when reaching a bus stop location
• When to proceed after students load or unload stops at different types of roadways

The newest edition of our "Week-at-a-Glance" document is now available!

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If you feel like we've missed an event or found an inaccuracy, don't hesitate to let us know.

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