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A week after being reaccredited, USD 250 starts to set goals for next visit

Pittsburg USD 250's recent accreditation visit was the talk of the board meeting Monday night at the Bevan Education Center, as school principals and board members discussed how well the visit went and their plans for improvements for the next visit.

"Last Friday (Jan. 13) was truly a celebration," George Nettels principal Andrew Gottlob said. "It was really a compete staff effort; it just went smoothly."

Meadowlark principal Phillis Scorse said the visit was much different than in the past.

"This is the third time through the accreditation cycle for the district," she said. "This time, everybody just came way thinking 'wow, that felt good to share with everyone."

Ruth Miller, Westside principal, said the accreditation team said they could not believe the strides made since the last visit.

"Over and over, they said this is a different conversation than five years ago," she said. 'They said it was a different conversation and it was a good change."

According to principals, school goals for this accreditation visit were very broad and were easily achieved. And since the goal of accreditation is to improve on the last visit, they know that the next time around, they will need to work hard to improve on their drastic strides, which means more work both in setting and achieving goals.

"We may be targeting five children (this time)," Scorse said. "One child may make the difference between (achieving) standard of excellence. The new plan will be a little harder. We have to look underneath - when, who, how - the details."

Matt Wendt, USD 250 assistant superintendent, echoed those sentiments.

"It's really easy to now rest," he said. "It is important now to note that we need to identify the small pockets."

Gary Price, USD 250 superintendent, said the improvements could not have been made without hard work by all parties involved.

"I was very pleased," he said. "The staff worked very hard and there was a lot of commitment. I am very appreciative. But I don't want to underestimate building leadership. The staff does a lot of the work, but this would not be possible, would not happen with leadership at the buildings. I appreciate that work."

Wendt also addressed upgrading the district's technology plan, which was conditionally approved under the stipulation that changes be made to the curriculum integration section.

"Technology integration is a weakness we are going to have to address," he said. "We need more opportunities for staff. It is about training, about the right type of training.

"We have folks who use Palm Pilots at grade three, and we have some who have difficulty in attaching a document to an e-mail. We need to overcome those difficulties."

Price addressed the Energy Cap program that the district started taking part in, and said he was very pleased with the results. In the first three months of the school year, the program saved the district almost $28,000 in energy bills.

"In three months, we saved the cost of just about hiring a beginning teacher," he said.

Price also addressed an article in Monday's edition of USA Today, which discussed the advantages of a later start to the day for high school students, a topic of discussion in the past among board members.

"The article points to some really good research that high school students don't work as well in the early morning," he said.

Price said changing the starting times for schools would be possible to do by staggering loading and unloading schedules.

In other business:

* The board received a report from Rich Bennett and Jon Bishop on the new wrestling program at Pittsburg Community Middle School.

* Price presented the proposed calendar for the 2006-07 school year. He said the calendar is still being fine-tuned and will be presented for adoption at the Feb. 13 meeting.

Peter Euler, The Morning Sun, (www.morningsun.net) January 24, 2006