December Letter from the Superintendent

December 2014 Newsletter

It is difficult to believe that at this writing we are in Thanksgiving week, which means that after we return we only have 17 days of school before the end of the semester.  Seventeen days seems like a very small amount of time, but on the other hand, students still have plenty of opportunity to work on grades and homework assignments that will have an impact on things like overall grade point average, class rank, or just earning credits needed for graduation. At the elementary level, it is important to encourage your child to work hard right until the end of the semester and show their very best effort.

For our seniors, time is running out for narrowing their choices for colleges, career direction and making plans for “what’s next” in life. Scholarships from colleges are starting to be awarded. There will be many more opportunities in the next few months for our seniors to take advantage of. If you are the parent of a junior, it is not too soon to be looking at college or career possibilities. If they are college bound (especially four year), getting an ACT test in will be a very important step soon.

I am happy to say that the State Department of Education is looking at adopting a new way of evaluating schools in a much less narrow manner, which will allow schools in the state of Nebraska to get away from much of the negative impacts of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation. This will be a broader look at more than just one test score and graduation rates. Will we still need to show academic improvement? Of course we will. Putting labels on schools when not considering the many factors that make a school unique can be detrimental to the very progress that schools are looking to make.

My personal wish for all of our Southwest Community is that you have a wonderful rest of the semester and a restful break. Here’s looking towards 2015 and many great things to come for our students.

Sincerely,

R. Todd Porter

Superintendent