Candidate Statement

By Bruce Kelly

Assure the community gets the best educational services the District can provide.

The goal of the District is that every child be at grade level. The State has mandated that ninety percent of every district's students be at grade level in ten years. Unfortunately, there is no definition of grade level.

We must assure the District has an accurate way of measuring a student's grade level, and that all students are making positive progress toward that goal. Teachers must be prepared to meet this goal, and the administration is responsible for making sure the students and teachers achieve this end.

That is the major piece of the strategic plan. The plan also includes issues with community service, communication, collaboration with other agencies, and growth.

Growth will consume the community's attention for at least the next twenty years. In this time, the population is expect to more than double. This has already brought forth the need for two new schools because of current development projects. Other projects that have been discussed will lead to the addition of at least two additional schools. Managing this effort will be critical in providing the best educational environment we can.

In the short term, this will require multi-track year round programs. Year round programs will be hard to sell in an agricultural community, but it is needed and support by the State. Priority is new school funding is being based on such programs. It would be irresponsible to not make every effort to raise our level and chances of receiving appropriate State facility funds. The ability to charge the necessary developer fees is based on such requirments.