From the Desk of…
Diana Bourisaw, Superintendent
NCA Accreditation News
Congratulations! Roosevelt and Gateway were recently awarded accreditation by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA). They join NCA certified high schools Central VPA, Cleveland @ Pruitt NJROTC, Metro, Roosevelt, Soldan, and Sumner. Clyde C. Miller and Vashon are expected to receive accreditation later this spring. Northwest, Carnahan and Beaumont plan to follow in the 2008-09 school year. NCA certification recognizes schools with a reputation for quality and continuous school improvement. Accreditation is respected by colleges and universities throughout the country.
Bringing Learning to Life through the Arts
On March 13, students in Ms. Turner’s fourth grade classroom at Jefferson Elementary transported visitors back in time during a dramatic presentation of the Civil Rights movement. Twice a week since November, Ms. Turner’s students participated in classroom dramatic re-enactments, sing-alongs, and writing exercises developed to bring history to life for the students – illustrating ways both teachers and students benefit when arts are woven into the broader curriculum.
The performance was the culmination of a partnership between Ms. Turner and two teaching artists brought together through the arts education collaborative Interchange. Interchange supports professional development of classroom teachers through collaboration with 30+ area arts and cultural organizations. These artistic partnerships help our students learn basic fundamentals and fully engage them in the learning process.
Thursday’s event also celebrated Arts Education Month and the announcement that Interchange has been awarded three public and private grants totaling $540,000. These grants will allow them to continue and expand arts integration programs in the district. St .Louis is one of only nine sites across the country funded by The Ford Foundation through its Integrating the Arts and Education Reform Initiative, which supports innovative arts integration pilots in urban public school systems.
The students did a fantastic job of bringing the Civil Rights era to life. Congratulations!
SLPS Senior Staff Accomplishes Key Initiatives
At a recent meeting, senior staff members unveiled key initiatives that have been accomplished during the last eighteen months. Below are highlights from the departments. The entire SLPS educational community is to be commended for these successes!
Academics
• Learning: Created a district cycle of events to support students being placed in appropriate classes, which includes extensive counselor training and cooperation among all the districts’ major departments.
• College Bound: Increased the number of advanced placement and AVID students by large percentages. Four high schools are slated to receive NCA accreditation before the seniors graduate.
• Curriculum and Instruction: Initiated significant training for coaches, principals, etc., in teaching the Kaplan curriculum, CORE (Consortium on Reading Excellence), assessing and re-teaching the curriculum.
• Innovative Pathways: The student rights handbook has been modified to reflect the thoughts of parents, staff and lawyers in accordance with Missouri School Boards’ Association guidelines. We are increasing our student recovery programs, and streamlining the homeless transportation budget.
• Athletics: Organized the budgets to reflect true cost, cleaned up outstanding citations and violations of the Missouri High School Activities Association (MHSAA) bylaws, and required all coaching positions to be filled by persons qualified by the MHSAA guidelines.
• Professional Development: Developed an evaluation system to track participants’ perceptions of the success and quality of PD offerings. This will help us address needs, with an eye to differentiation.
Financial Department
• Significantly reduced the deficit in general operating funds
o Cut deficit in half in FY07 (-$25 million to -$12 million)
o Increased interest on investments more than $2 million over budget
• Reduced spending and reallocated resources to fund academic initiatives. (71% of the budget was spent on instruction and 4% on administrative.)
• Maximized revenue for capital funds (i.e. savings via refinancing and bond defeasance).
• Developed clear and transparent financial reports.
• Implemented a position control process.
• Provided early severance pay.
• Awarded certificates of excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) and the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO) for over eighteen consecutive years.
Information Technology
• Launched SLPS Virtual Schools – an online alternative to traditional learning, with full and part-time learning at the high school level and full time learning offered at the elementary level.
• Provided an automated timekeeping solution to facilitate workforce management designed to manage/reduce costs and administrative tasks (Kronos System).
• Created greater efficiency in paper reduction to the district by providing multifunctional devices and a district-wide fax and storage/archival/retrieval solution.
Human Resources
• All personnel in the Human Resources Department have a personal professional development plan designed to collectively increase department and employee competence and credibility.
• HR department staff collaborated to establish key department values and a purpose statement to guide department activity. In addition, the department has established and implemented key staff behaviors to serve as a model for other departments.
• HR systems analysis and efficiencies are part of the new department restructuring and will bring HR systems into compliance with district needs.
• The table of organization in the HR department has been organized to deal more effectively with direct customers.
Safety and Security
• Increased daily security presence in schools to promote a safe learning environment.
• Established partnerships with city police and community organizations to reduce gang activity, truancy and fighting in schools.
• Increased the distribution of safety and security information to schools and homes.
Operations
• Created welcoming school environments by improving school buildings and grounds.
• Developed the 2008/09 school calendar.
• Completed Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) report and re-inspection of schools, which has not been done in nine years.
• Transitioned to internal and external environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Customer Service
• Developed an SLPS Customer Care Initiative which focuses on every employee providing excellent customer care to all district customers.
• The Customer Care Advisory members have drafted a Customer Care Plan, which has been submitted to senior staff for review.
• The district is providing ongoing customer care training classes for all departments and employees through Professional Development.
"Liberty cannot be caged into a charter or handed on ready-made to the next generation. Each generation must recreate liberty for its own times. Whether or not we establish freedom rests with ourselves."
- Judge Florence Ellinwood Allen
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