Superintendent's Desk for October 18, 2017

Greetings and welcome back to another school year!! Dodson Public School is in full swing and already preparing for our first quarter conferences on the evening of October 18.

Submitting the Superintendent’s Corner to the paper once monthly was offered to me again by Mr. Hebert for this school year. I know that others are welcome to submit as well but until then… Dodson will continue to utilize the opportunity once monthly to briefly talk about what is going on in our school community. Updates to school projects, insight and vision into school philosophies and direction as well as general happenings and announcements will be shared in this article by “yours truly” once a month.

Over the course of this upcoming school quarter, I’d like to talk about the components that are present in a research-based successful school. Research has shown that there are nine basic characteristics found in successful schools and organizations. School systems…big or small…that are operating at a high level and have high morale and a positive atmosphere among all of the employees and staff as well as excellent student achievement outcomes…have nine characteristics that are present and visible daily. Implementing these components and staying strict to these components is a philosophy that I have been brought up on throughout my teaching and administrative career. If all members of the educational team/family…( school board, building administration, teaching staff, classified staff) work together to implement and nurture these characteristics…research has shown that higher student achievement and positive morale is the outcome in the organization.

What are the characteristics? They include; 1). a shared overall vision and direction, 2). overall school safety, 3). cleanliness and order to classrooms and personal office space as well as the school grounds and building overall, 4). research-based curriculum, 5). up to date and modern technology infrastructure and technology tools for the classroom, 6). aligned and sustained professional development that is useful to the overall vision and direction, 7). professional collaboration structures, 8). hiring high character personnel 9). effective leadership.

Each week, I will be discussing one individual characteristic and the details necessary to implement and sustain in the overall school district / organization and why it is important. Over the years I have found that schools in public education are doing some of these things very well…and some of these characteristics are not getting the attention they need. I’ll also talk about Dodson and where visible signs of these characteristics are showing up and having “staying power” and where we still need to get to.

See you next month! Go Coyotes!!