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Minds and Matter: We’re getting ready for school, because August is almost here
by Kevin Hatfield, School Superintendent · Op-Ed · July 30, 2015
The 2015 – 2016 school year promises to be an exciting one! The West Branch Community School District teachers, administrators, board members and support staff are dedicated to not just graduating every student, but to prepare graduates who are uncommonly ready for success at their places of work, colleges, with their families and in their communities.
The District’s vision, mission and destination statements were developed by our School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) with input from our great staff:
Vision: A Future Focused Community of Learners
Mission: Preparing Students to Live and Learn with Passion and Purpose
Destination: All Students will be Career and College Ready
The feedback we continue to receive regarding our efforts to improve the rigor, relevance, and course and learning opportunities for our students has been extremely positive. Standards allow us to target our teaching and assess what students actually know and are able to do!
Did you know that last year’s seniors, as well as many of last year’s juniors achieved some of the highest ACT scores every recorded in our district?
Why implement changes to our traditional system? First, globalization has created the need to have highly skilled, specialized workers who are prepared to solve problems and being “digital media literate” is a requirement for today’s students. Today’s students are fully engaged in an “anytime, anywhere learning” environment. They desire personalized learning experiences aligned with their interests, passions and goals.
How can we prepare students to meet the challenges of our century if our schools remain virtually unchanged? The District has responded through the implementation of standards-based reporting, by increasing concurrent credit (college-level courses) opportunities offered at the high school, providing laptops for student in grades 5-12, tablet technologies in the elementary school and multi-tiered student success (MTSS) processes designed to inform the instructional practices of our staff.
In the last few years, the District has added STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum and robotics experiences for students. We added foreign language teaching support, band at fifth grade and Gateway to Technology for all seventh and eighth grade students, as well as, the exciting “Leader in Me” framework at the elementary level.
Did you know that we have added new business and accounting courses; even for many of our middle school students, too? Did you know that the 2015 West Branch High School graduates averaged nearly three times as many college credit courses as our graduates of just a few years ago – saving our families thousands of dollars in college tuition. This year, more than 50 students will have courses at the new Kirkwood Regional Center.
Did you know we are starting a new school foundation? We are thrilled to begin a new era for the W.B.C.S.D.’s School Foundation. We will have exciting news and events to share with you soon.
Finally, everyone knows that the W.B.C.S.D. offers comprehensive fine arts and athletic programming opportunities for students! See you at the events.
Go Bears!
Start of School Year Notes:
• Online Registration: Scheduled to be available in late July. (TBA) Our goal is to have 100 percent of our parents register their students using our online system.
• Wednesday, August 12, 2015 - Walk-Up Registration: Registration of students for families new the district or for families in need of assistance with online registration will be August 12, 2015, 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at West Branch High School.
• Monday, August 17, 2015 - Laptop Rollout Night, 6:00 p.m., WBHS (Families new to the district who have a student(s) in grades 5th – 12th and 2015 – 2016 5th grade students and parents.)
• Thursday, August 20, 2015 – Meet the Teacher Night (Locker Night), 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. all buildings.
• Thursday, August 20, 2015 – Meet the Teams Night (Oliphant Street Football Field), 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
• Monday, August 24, 2015 - First Day of School
• School Hours Elem. & MS. 8:20 a.m. – 3:20 p.m., High School 8:10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
• Security: All parents, community members, non-enrolled students, outside vendors…must “sign-in for safety” between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Please direct visitors to the office. For logistical reasons, parents of elementary age students may enter the building between 8:00 – 8:20 a.m. without sign-in. Entry to schools after 8:20 p.m. and before 3:15 p.m. will require sign-in.
Calendar Notes:
• No Early Release Wednesday, Aug. 26th (Full Day)
• No Early Release on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd (Full Day)
• No School, Sept. 7th Labor Day
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