Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that it is 2020! I am always amazed at how fast the school year flies by. I’m sure we will have some days, and even weeks that seem to drag on with the cold, snowy weather, but hopefully this winter will be better than the past few years have been.
As we end 2019 and near the midpoint of our school year, I reflected on the start to our year and even what is left yet to accomplish. Although I have only been here for a short time, I have quickly realized that there are so many great things happening at West Fork Schools and so many things to be proud of. I recently reviewed the survey results again and also the advice for the new Superintendent that was collected when the district was looking for a superintendent. As I reviewed all of this information, as well as my own observations and experience since starting in July, it is very apparent that the strength of the district is the people. We have great students, awesome staff, and tremendous support from our parents and community. School pride is often most obvious through our athletic and extra-curricular programs; and as our District continues to move forward we want to continue to find ways to challenge ALL of our students academically and support students and staff in this work.
Another point that was clear from the information I stated above was that we need to challenge all students academically. As a school community there are alot of things we do to impact student learning. As a district we need to continue to work very hard at adopting the best resources that align with the Iowa Common Core to meet our students’ needs. We also want to ensure that we have a professional development plan that allows our staff, the time, training, and resources so we can continue to positively affect student learning. We also need to continue to improve our system that allows us to intervene when students aren’t quite where they need to be.
As a staff we try to challenge and meet our students academic needs, while also trying to meet the diverse social/emotional needs of some of our students. We want to challenge all of our students but also equip our students with the competencies (or as recognized by the district as Essential Learnings) it takes to be successful after school. Those competencies would be critical thinking, ability to communicate, creativity, collaboration, flexibility and adaptability, and accountable. All of these are equally as important, if not more so, for our students.
The schools that have had the most success are those that have the strongest partnerships between school and home. We have all heard how important the parent-teacher partnership is for each student. The parents role is so important to the success of every one of our students. Many times the students reflect their parent’s attitude about school. Parents have the ability to ensure that their child’s attendance sets them up for success. Little things like ensuring students get their homework done or even reading for a few minutes every night will help your student be more successful. Parents can encourage/motivate their students to be involved in several activities. All of these things listed have research to show that they do impact student success. It truly is a partnership between school and home and WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. GO WARHAWKS!!!!
Mike Kruger
Superintendent