Superintendent addresses challenging times

PLYMOUTH – In his 10th annual-meeting report to school district electors, Superintendent Clark Reinke reflected upon the myriad of changes that have occurred within the past year.

As he described it, “Huge impact, huge change.”

. The country elected its first Afro-American president.

“This gives our students hope that in the United States, any accomplishment is possible with caring people in one’s life, hard work and most importantly, an education,” Reinke said.

. The bottom fell out of the economy worldwide.

“Our board voted to go to referendum, seeking approval from our taxpayers to exceed the revenue limits in an effort to address the $1 million deficit projected for the current school year, and it got clobbered at the polls,” he said.

“This forced the board to implement drastic budget-reduction strategies, such as cutting our teaching force, moving fifth grade to the middle school, a major reduction in transportation services and charging an $85 activity fee to all high-school students.”

Reinke noted that a family with two high school students, two yearbooks and one parking pass paid $470 in fees for the 2009-10 school year.

. The board voted in June to close Cascade Elementary and eliminate support staff positions at the school and reassign those students, due to passage of the State Legislature’s budget that drastically reduced the district’s revenue limit and state aid, leaving it with another $440,000 problem.

. Thirty-nine members of the faculty and staff have been reassigned or bumped into different assignments or different schools than they had last year at this time, and in the fall-out, two teachers and two support-staff members no longer have a position with the school district.

“That number would be much higher, if it were not for retirements, voluntary layoffs, or people choosing to leave,” Reinke said.

He apologized to those who have been directly and personally impacted by the changes and left feeling frustrated, disappointed or angry.

Reinke said all decisions the board and district officials made were in an effort to preserve the educational model of the district and to leave teachers and students in the best possible learning situation.

He then focused on accomplishments.

“Our students again showed tremendous results on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exams,” Reinke said, adding that the composite score of graduating seniors on the ACT, the most widely used college-entrance exam in the nation, went from 22.8 to 23.4, with 71 percent of students taking the exam.

“In just about all measures, our students exceeded or equaled national, state and peer-group comparisons on common academic measures,” he noted.

The district realized close to a 7 percent reduction in its health-insurance premiums, providing the leverage to settle a unique and fair contract agreement for both teachers and taxpayers of the district, Reinke noted.

The superintendent then addressed a very serious concern of his, regarding the education of students in the district.

“Do we have the curriculum, the instructional strategies, the technology and most importantly the vision and expectations that will enable us to be successful with 21st century students?” he asked.

“What is occurring is not sequential change, which happens in linear, fixed and predictable increments,” he explained. “What is going on in our world today is called ‘exponential change,’ in which we feel the effects before we even realize life as we knew it has changed.”

Reinke noted that Ted McCain in his book titled, “Teaching for Tomorrow,” states that we must rethink the relevance in our current instructional approach.

“If we do not meaningfully engage students in real-world skills of analysis, reasoning, problem-solving, creation, teamwork and communication, are we really preparing them for success in today’s world?” he asked. “Will they be able to compete in a global economy where knowledge, creativity and problem-solving at high levels are the valued commodity?”

He said the world that the district is preparing students to face will require district officials to bring classrooms an approach to learning that engages students in the use of problem-solving and critical thinking, so they can utilize the powerful technological tools of their world to do meaningful work and to create knowledge.

“Young people equipped with independent problem-solving skills, plus technology proficiency will have amazing potential and will be effective, productive participants in families, communities and businesses,” Reinke said.

He stressed that ramping up the learning and thinking of students and district officials is a daunting challenge.

“But it is absolutely imperative that we do so,” he emphasized.

“We need the stake holders of the school district to place higher levels of education as a high priority,” Reinke said. “We need you to help us establish high expectations for learning and to find the support through shared community sacrifice for our efforts.”

He quoted President Obama from his recent address challenging students nationwide to set high goals and take responsibility for their learning.

“The future of our country depends upon how well our students succeed in our schools today.”