The Holbrook Unified School District will continue in the coming year to help its students develop their unique abilities and prepare them to move on to higher education.
According to Superintendent Dr. Robbie Koerperich, the foremost objective is to prepare students for college and career readiness. “One of our goals is to get all students to be ‘champion’ learners through our ‘Teach Like A Champion’ instructional strategies.”
Teach Like A Champion is a set of 49 instructional strategies that help both teachers and students prepare for a new kind of learning. “The 21st century learner must be a thinker. Our focus is to not only impart knowledge upon our students, but, more importantly, get them to create from the knowledge they have,” he said.
According to Koerperich, alongside the thinking strategies will be a foundation in writing and communication. “Our goal is and always will be to give our students the academic edge to help them reach their potential to become college and career ready,” he noted.
In anticipation of continued budget restraints, there will be no new major capital projects planned, but the district is planning to repaint each of the campuses to improve appearances. “This will be a major project this summer to freshen up our campuses. We are exploring the color scheme at this time,” stated Koerperich, who added that he does anticipate receiving the court ordered two percent inflation growth for this coming year from the state, which will be used to help offset any new costs associated with employee salaries and benefits.
District officials will also continue to analyze their efficiency measures. “Over the past two years we have installed energy management systems at all the schools with the exception of Hulet Elementary. One of our goals is to install an EMS system at Hulet this year,” said the superintendent.
Energy management systems help control and regulate heating and cooling costs, especially when rooms are unoccupied. The district has seen a financial benefit in the energy conservation measures that have been implemented over the past couple of years, and wants to continue to work toward additional financial savings through a close analysis of all utilities.
Overall, Koerperich noted, “I feel confident in saying that Holbrook School District is a great school system for our communities and we will continue to strive to be the best district possible in preparing our students for their futures.”
