Week 33: The Hay is in the Barn But Our Work Continues

Happy Friday!

Thank you for all you have done this week! All of the efforts we have put into our students have been recorded in the ACT Aspire testing portal. Testing our students satisfies what the state asks of us as far as our accountability to it, but we are still accountable to ourselves and this community for using our time and resources in the most effective ways to make sure our students (their children) are successful.

The trending of our District Goals is about the same; however, I can tell the end of the year is near because discipline referrals have gone up for the second week in a row. We are still above our goal of a ten percent reduction, but only by a fraction instead of the fifteen to twenty percentage points that we have been seeing all year. Attendance went down a tenth of a percent and we will provide one last reading level report at the May board meeting.

This week’s Wrap-up is full of news, information, and opportunity.

Dr. Luis Cruz

We are very excited to be hosting a statewide professional development session for educators with Dr. Luis Cruz. Dr. Cruz will present “Time for Change” at the PAC on Friday, June 16. The session will start at 9:00 am and will be a motivating, inspiring, and hopefully life-changing day for educators. Dr. Cruz will spend the day discussing transforming school culture. One must understand why teachers continue to hold on to the models or beliefs contrary to those put forth by their district or school. He will explore the human behavior and conditions that cause the underlying conflict among the four different types of teachers in a school: Believers, Fundamentalists, Tweeners, and Survivors.  He will discuss how school leaders can work with each group to create a positive school culture and fully realize our district’s mission and vision.

If you are planning to be in town on June 16th, please register for this professional development as one of your flex days. It is a statewide audience they are after so this will also be a great networking opportunity for those attending. You may register for the session in ESC Works here.

2024 Legislative Biennial Study of Educational Adequacy

The Arkansas House Committee on Education and Senate Committee on Education are conducting their biennial study of educational adequacy. The Policy Analysis and Research Section of the Bureau of Legislative Research (BLR) has been charged with facilitating the study. As part of that study, the BLR will survey all superintendents, charter school directors, principals, and classroom teachers in the state for needed information and input. Below is their schedule for sending out emails with the survey links to the recipients:

* Teachers start May 8, 2023, and end May 19, 2023;

* Principals start May 24, 2023, and end June 16, 2023;

* Superintendents start May 24, 2023, and end June 16, 2023.

The two committees on education make the funding recommendations to the House and Senate so it is very important that you respond to the survey if you receive one.  We have been assured that all survey responses are confidential, and no one outside their research group will have access to the responses that are provided.

Teacher Appreciation Day/Week

We had Teacher Appreciation Day on May 2nd and are looking forward to Teacher Appreciation Week next week, May 8th through the 11th. I am thoroughly impressed by the things our parents and businesses do for you all during these dates each year. Teacher Appreciation Day garnered many positive comments about local teachers in our papers and on social media. Nationally, Teacher Appreciation has grown and there are many resources dedicated to making this time meaningful, not necessarily by gift suggestions but in the way the profession is being honored and elevated.

For example, on Sunday, you may want to join the National Education Association, the National PTA, and Emmy award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph from ABC's hit comedy series, Abbott Elementary for a Town Hall kick-off of Teacher Appreciation Week. There will be a lively discussion with teachers, education leaders, community leaders, parents, and students about critical topics facing public school educators and students and the solutions our communities need to ensure every student has access to a high-quality, equitable, and inclusive education, regardless of family income, race, or where they live. Sign up here to receive a reminder when it's time to tune in!

Licensure Fee Waiver

A commissioner’s memo came out this morning announcing that at its regularly scheduled meeting on March 3, 2023, the Professional Licensure Standards Board discussed the Executive Order to Prioritize LEARNS and voted unanimously to recommend to the State Board of Education approval of a waiver of first-time teacher licensure application fees. The Arkansas State Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Professional Licensure Standards Board. This will be very beneficial to some of you in the REACH program or who are using an alternative licensing program.

Those applying should continue to apply for the standard license through the online application but will not be asked to pay the application fee before submitting. If you have any questions, please contact the following: [email protected]  or [email protected].

Closing

School Lunch Hero Day is held annually on the first Friday in May in honor of each person responsible for providing healthy meals and snacks to millions of children across America. If you looked forward to tasty food and a full belly in school, you know exactly whom to thank for this. These include school nutrition professionals and those who serve the food in cafeterias. Each person responsible for making sure good food is handed out to students is a hero, and this day was specially designed to show them some love.

It is Nurses Appreciation Day tomorrow and School Nurses Day next Wednesday, the 10th. National School Nurse Day was established to foster a better understanding of the role of school nurses in the educational setting. School Nurse Day is celebrated on the Wednesday within National Nurses Week. National Nurses Week is May 6-12 each year. We certainly want to thank all of our nurses who serve our students here at Mena Schools! They are all fabulous individuals with hearts of service.

It is the end-of-the-year banquet season and we started with a great FFA Banquet Tuesday night. I want to thank Mr. Maye, Mr. Goodnight, and Mr. McCormick for creating such a great showcase of student learning and accomplishment. I also want to thank those of you who were also in attendance for supporting it and ask that if you have the time to attend any of our other banquets, please do so. It is a great way to see the variety of things our students are doing and a great way to see how your coworkers impact our students.

Love Productions has begun the casting process for the documentary series they are filming with Mena High School students. It is very exciting to have been chosen for this and very exciting for our students to be able to experience this! It will be a lifetime memory for everyone involved, especially those who will spend three weeks in London, England, and the Londoners who will spend three weeks with us.

Please use this form to notify us if this is your 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, or 30th year at Mena Public Schools or if you achieved major accomplishments this year such as an advanced degree or credential. We also want to recognize accomplishments in your classrooms related to our district goals.

Please complete the DMESC user satisfaction survey.

It was a really good week at Mena Public Schools!!

At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.

Have a great weekend!!