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During the meeting of the Winslow Unified School District (WUSD) Governing Board last week, members discussed their strengths and weaknesses as defined by themselves. The evaluation is an annual assessment of how the board has done in their leadership role as well as an opportunity to express their goals for the upcoming year.
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Governing Board member Al Leonard said, “I would like to work on figuring out how we can best help the students learn. Whether that is coming up with new programs or reinventing education. I’m not sure we’re doing that yet.”
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Leonard also mentioned that the WUSD overall budget has improved and this year has approximately $800,000 carry over from the last fiscal year. “I would like to start looking in to how we can use our funds to the best of their ability. Let us develop something that is unique that makes Winslow stand out.
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“As far as something we could improve on,” added Leonard, “focusing on teaching our students real world applications. Sometimes we focus so much on getting the grade or passing the test, that we don’t know how to apply the skills being learned.”
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Governing Board Vice President Joe Harnett also shared concerns. “I think the thing we can work on most is community involvement. For example, the calendar changes. Some people have approached me and are not too happy. It would be nice to get more community input. We need that input and support, we represent them and were elected by them and if we make decisions without involving them, I feel like we are doing a disservice to them.”
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Hartnett added that he would like to see an all-day kindergarten program and would like to “be innovative in our recruitment and retention of quality teachers.
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“I do think we have increased our test scores and academic accountability at each school. We do have a long way to go, but I think we are on the right track,” he concluded.
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Other board members shared sentiment on community involvement and communication. Governing Board Clerk Marilee Ervien, who was not present, wrote her concerns and they were presented by President Sharon Greenwood. Ervien said, “I would also like to learn more about our budget and how to best utilize the funds that we do have. As a positive, our high school is doing great, the environment and the grade improvement has been wonderful.”
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Greenwood added her own thoughts and said, “I think a goal for next year should be looking in to elementary level special education funding and making sure our teachers have the resources they need. Moving forward, I would like to have more communication between board members and administration.”
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She concluded, “Academically, I think all of our schools are doing better and I am really proud of our district for the way they handled last week’s lockout situation, and how we continue to work as a team.”
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At the request of Winslow High School Principal Dr. Justin Hartman, the evaluation of the board will also be administered to the district’s leadership team, which consists of each school’s principal and academic coaches. The results of that phase will be discussed in a future meeting of the governing board.
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In other business, the Governing Board:
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* Recognized the employees and volunteer of the month for October. Employees are nominated by their coworkers for their contributions to the WUSD environment.
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* Authorized acceptance of a grant in the amount of $400,000 from the Volkswagen Group to purchase four new school busses. The district will be responsible for $200,000 as a condition of the grant. The busses are expected to join the WUSD fleet in early spring 2019.
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* Ratified vouchers in a routine procedure that allows the district to submit vouchers to the County School Superintendent between board meetings.
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* Approved the hiring of Natalie Barrios as the sports medicine instructor at WHS; and Genevieve Salt, Christopher Garrett and Rob Foster as substitute teachers.
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* Authorized acceptance of donations from Sonic Night in the amounts of $70.78 to Jefferson Elementary School and $81.10 to Washington Elementary School.
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The next meeting of the Winslow Unified School District Governing Board will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 20, in the district board room, located at 800 Apache Ave.
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