Week 3: Setting Goals Isn't as Simple as it Sounds

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all of your efforts this week. I hope that your routines are starting to be settled and that your students are getting back into the learning mode. We have had a good week at Mena Public Schools. Just as noted in last week’s Wrap-up, the district leadership PLC has met and is working toward establishing our district goals for the year. We are also planning this year’s budget.

In this Wrap-up, I will provide some insight and information related to both of these tasks and other tidbits of helpful or useful information.

Setting SMART Goals

SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives that provide a clear and shared focus for a team's efforts. In the context of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), SMART goals serve as a framework for collective inquiry and action research, helping educators to focus their efforts on effective teaching and learning strategies that can be measured and assessed over time.

This week, our district leadership PLC met to make plans for establishing those SMART goals. This team is made up of the administrators with the addition of our interventionists to operate as what PLC designers call a guiding coalition. It is designed to work as a PLC for the district to do collective inquiry and action research.

We looked at the results of the Thought Exchange from our District Convocation. The AI in the program summarized the collective thoughts of everyone who responded. Based mostly on your feedback, it was decided that we would not use the ACT Aspire data from last spring to be our baseline, which means that we will have to establish a baseline from another source. This will require some more time so the September 15th timeline to build our data dashboard may have to be extended. Keep in mind that it is okay to slow down and push deadlines in order to have consensus and to be confident in what your PLC team decides. You know, sometimes to move fast you have to go slow. That is my best Yogi Berra impersonation.

The Right to Read

The Arkansas Right to Read Act is a state legislative initiative aimed at boosting literacy rates among K-12 students. The act mandates evidence-based reading instruction with a focus on phonics and phonemic awareness, especially in early grades. It requires regular student assessments to identify those at risk of reading difficulties and prescribes targeted interventions. Additionally, the act calls for professional development for teachers in the science of reading and encourages parental involvement to support children's literacy at home. The ultimate goal is to improve educational outcomes by ensuring that all students are proficient readers.

This is the year that our Science of Reading status is to be reported to the state. That is your proficiency or awareness depending upon the grade level or subjects you teach.

Budget Information

Our budget for this year is not finished but we are seeing that living within our means will be required. The millions of dollars in federal funding that were appropriated to us in the COVID response made it very easy for us to approve many expenditures because of the direct impact of that money and the offset of other expenses we would normally have to face. We no longer have those funds so all expenses will fall on the district, federal, and categorical funds we get every year and we will be watching budgets very closely.

One expense in particular is professional development. We have been using Title I carryover and ESSER funds to accommodate your requests over the last three years. This year, Title I has all been allocated to salaries, supplies, and programs tied to literacy, which leaves our categorical professional development fund as the primary source for registration fees, hotel rooms, and travel expenses.

In conjunction with the expenses for professional development is the cost of a substitute teacher for those who need one. This is an expense we have to work to reduce. Below are two graphs that show how our sub expenses compare to some schools around us our size and how we have trended through the years.

We know you cannot help many of the reasons for substitutes but there are some that you can. Any requests to attend this year will be carefully considered before approval. Please help us try to bring this expense down.

Closing

It has been a great week for the Polk County Fair! Our students in 4-H and FFA who exhibit livestock, produce, and art have been really impressive with their winnings. Tonight is the premium sale. If you are not going to watch Bearcat Football, check the sale out to see the livestock projects being recognized as the best. There is a lot of hard work and effort that goes into those projects and it began months ago.

Thank you to all of you who have been or are working the booth at the fair or have been out there supporting our students and our county. I really appreciate the teachers who coordinated the art exhibits from our elementary schools. Those were fantastic!

Our athletes are in full force! Good luck to the Bearcats as they travel to take on Centerpoint. Our Junior High Bearcats had great wins over Centerpoint last night. Our volleyball and golf teams continue to compete well. Senior high volleyball defeated Magnolia this week to remain undefeated and boys golf won a big match this week.

At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!!

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