Reflections from the Administrator
by Greenwood School District Administrator Joe Green
SPRING BRINGS GRATITUDE, CHANGE,
OPPORTUNITY
Welcome to spring! The last few months have been interesting, to say the least! However, there is warm weather, blue skies, and green grass ahead!
First and foremost, I want to thank the staff and students at our elementary school for their extreme care for our students during the emergency on Feb. 13. Although this was quite the chaotic event, all students were returned home safe and sound. I would also like to express deep gratitude to the emergency services that responded and investigated this scare to clear the area of any threat and ensure a safe school for our district. Thankfully, no threat was made or found to compromise this safety! This was also a learning experience for all of us. Our team has been and will continue to review the events as we look to improve our response and ensure we are even more ready should a response be activated in the future.
As the winter sports season comes to an end, I want to congratulate our athletes and coaches on their season and the growth of our student athletes! We can probably all agree that winning is fun, but there are so many more lessons learned through athletics. Teamwork, commitment, trust, empathy, and hard work are a few that I have seen from our teams. These are skills that can last a lifetime.
On April 1, residents will be asked a non-binding question about their support for consolidation with the School District of Loyal. This is a yes or no question and will help guide the board on future direction. Included in this newsletter is a fact sheet, based on what we know about the two districts and a potential consolidation.
One of the main questions has revolved around the location of schools. There has been no conversation about relocating students or changing the operation of schools by the board or joint board. Both boards have made it clear several times that any decisions about locations of schools would waituntilafteraconsolidationoccurs, so that those decisions can be researched and developed with input from both communities. Unfortunately, there has been some misinformation shared about this. To clear up some of the misinformation, we have put a FAQ page on our district website, as well a form to submit questions.
Please remember that the conversations regarding consolidation are being had to _ind ways to continue offering robust learning opportunities for all of our students while living within a budget that our district residents can support.
You will also see a reminder of and information about our Community Eligible Program (CEP). This is the breakfast and lunch program that provides free breakfast and lunch to all students. Currently, we are sitting at about $15,000 in donations, but are still looking for additional support to get closer to the $40,000 cost to our district. Please consider a donation as we look to make this program sustainable for the next several years.
As always, please feel free to contact me at any time with questions, concerns, or celebrations. Greenwood is and will remain a great place to educate our kids!
