Superintendent's Message for November 2018

November has arrived in #timberwolvesterritory and many activities are just around the corner as we begin the month.  The middle school will be presenting their Veteran’s Day program on November 9th at 10 AM at the Junior High gym in Villisca.  The High School Program will be at 2:00 PM in the Activity Center on the 9th.  Please come out and support our local veterans and the sacrifice they made for the freedom we enjoy today.

Mid-term elections will happen on November 6th, and the Iowa Governor’s race is expected to be as close as it has ever been in recent decades.  During these races, I always look at what the candidate wants to accomplish in education.  Will they fight for Iowa’s rural schools or look to close more Iowa schools under their watch? I encourage you to get out and exercise your right to vote. 

Last month, we certified our enrollment and both districts gained students! Corning was up to 413.6 students and Villisca was up to 303 students.  This is great news for next year.  State funding is always one year behind, and we will be operating this year on last year’s numbers.  My vision is to keep increasing our numbers, not to have a big drop off.  I want to see Southwest Valley continue to grow and be the destination district. A question I hear often is why haven’t we consolidated yet?  We are currently whole grade sharing, and it is working out great. We have an incentive of about $136,000 per district to stay two districts.  The districts get money to share a Superintendent, Transportation Director, Maintenance Director, and Elementary Counselor.  This legislation is set to expire in 2020, but could be up for an extension this legislative session.  If it would not extend, then our consolidation efforts might speed up, but for the time being, we are holding steady.

Last year, the district had three goals they set as Southwest Valley District Goals. 

Goal 1:  Student Achievement. Increase student proficiency or year’s growth by 3% of the average in Reading and Math.   GOAL MET!  Reading 5% and Math 9.15% 

Goal 2:  Community Engagement. Each seminar, den, grade level, with participation of all education staff, will develop and execute a community service project during the course of the school year.  GOAL MET 100%

Goal 3: Improving Culture and Attendance.  Improve culture and climate by implementing Capturing Kids’ Hearts with fidelity (6-12 by 2018; PreK12 by 2019) and by further reducing student referrals and chronic absenteeism.  GOAL MET!

We will continue using these same goals for another year to see the two year consistency we are striving for as a district. 

Winter Activities will soon be starting, and I hope to see you all at a SWV event soon!

Chris Fenster, ED.

Superintendent

Southwest Valley Schools

Corning and Villisca