Letter from the Superintendent - February 2019
On February 6th the staff of Southwest Public schools will spend a day of training or “in-service” with Dr. Matt McNiff, a Behavioral Specialist from Educational Service Unit 5 out of Beatrice. Dr. McNiff will assist our staff in learning to deal with what is becoming a more prevalent issue in many classrooms, including ours: Non-compliant or defiant children. It is becoming somewhat of a larger piece of what our very busy staff deals with on a daily basis. Children that simply refuse to do the basic things that are required in school, and very frankly, life as well. Non-compliant students often disrupt classes to the point that an entire class must be removed to another room so the disruptive child must be dealt with. This is lost instructional time, and also influences the behavior of others. All children must have the opportunity to learn, and understandably there are children that have disabilities that require modifications to their day, have medical issues, or an immediate crisis at home. Parents or caregivers must also be supportive if they want their child to achieve at a higher level, and the behavioral component is vital. It can be a roadblock to all of our children’s learning.
Dr. McNiff will be giving us strategies to get children to refocus or comply, as well as other classroom management strategies. We are not alone with this issue, and Dr. McNiff has brought his training and experience to many districts who are seeing similar problems. These behaviors affect school climate, instruction, and eventually, the results of standardized testing. It is just one piece of our process to diagnose what certain students are not learning, repeating those lessons to those students, while continuing on with the required curriculum established by the Nebraska Department of Education.
We also have put in place programs that look at each student’s standardized test scores and creates “review lessons” that give children a chance to go back over concepts that they were not successful in on previous tests. Each child gets an individualized lesson, so some may be longer and some are shorter. We must, in the end, boost the number of students who are proficient in math, science, and English language arts. Social Studies will be added to this list. Please have a conversation with your own child about how very important it is to not disrupt others, how important it is to follow the rules (that will follow them forever), and how very important it is to take their testing very seriously. It is the primary measure that the Department of Education uses to measure our district’s progress.
Sincerely,
R. Todd Porter - Superintendent