Superintendent's Message for December 2024

The month of December has arrived, and it’s hard to believe how quickly this year is flying by! I’m excited to share some updates and progress happening in our district as we wrap up the calendar year.

Corning Building Project Update
So far, the weather has been very cooperative with the Corning building project, and we’ve seen great progress over the past month. The walls and roofing are now complete, and we’re gearing up to install windows and pour concrete in the east classroom areas this month. The project is on schedule, with a targeted mid-summer completion date. I feel very confident we’ll have the building ready to open for the fall of 2025!

School Improvement Advisory Committee Highlights
In November, we held our first School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) meeting of the year. This group includes two parents from each of our four buildings, the school business official, building administrators, and myself. During the meeting, we discussed several key topics:

• Iowa Performance Profile results
• Attendance trends
• Work-based learning
• Handwriting and executive functioning
• The house system
• Artificial Intelligence in education
• Facilities
• Teaching and reinforcing soft skills

We had some great discussions and received thoughtful input. Topics included how to attract more families to the district, ways parents can support teaching soft skills at home, polling families who leave our district to understand why, building a stronger School Resource Officer program, and revisiting our cell phone policies across all buildings.

Future Planning: Whole Grade Sharing and Reorganization
Another topic of discussion was whole grade sharing and reorganization and where we see our district heading in the future. Our two districts have had a successful whole grade-sharing arrangement for several years now. Back in 2018, when I first arrived, I was told that operational sharing funding might end, which led us to start aligning salary schedules and planning for possible reorganization.

Since then, operational sharing funding has been renewed for five more years. Currently, Southwest Valley shares positions like the Superintendent, Transportation Director, Operations Director, and Human Resources, which brings in about $163,800 for each district. However, if we were to reorganize, that funding would go away unless we partnered with another school.

At our joint meeting in February, I’ll be discussing options with the board to see where they would like to proceed. Both districts are in strong financial shape, so we have the time to carefully consider what is best for the future of Southwest Valley students.

Looking Ahead
As always, I appreciate the support and partnership of our community as we work together to provide the best opportunities for our students. I’m confident that by continuing to work together, we’ll achieve great things for our district.

Have a wonderful holiday season!