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Schools are committed to 'raising the bar'
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Published: September 11, 2009
One month after presenting their annual evaluation of Supt. Mark Edwards, members of the Mooresville Graded School District Board of Education have settled on six goals for Edwards during the 2009-10 school year.
The goals, detailed at Tuesday's monthly school board meeting, are also part of a district-wide school improvement plan and will help the MGSD grow over the next year, Edwards said.
"This year we made some great gains," he said. "But we're raising the bar."
Continuing with last year's goal of recruiting for diversity, the same goal was added to the new list. Edwards said the district has to "make sure we're being aggressive in this area.
"We need to look at recruitment processes and every opportunity to have a diverse staff," he added, noting that creating a diverse composite among staff that is similar to the community is essential.
Mentioning that the district failed to complete this goal in the previous school year – partially due to the MGSD's limited hiring – the superintendent said, "This is an area where we haven't been as successful as we should be."
Education and student achievement, however, remain at the forefront with two goals: "Progress toward 90 percent system-wide composite as indicated on the end of grade/course test scores" and "All MGSD schools to receive School of Excellence designation."
Calling these "lofty goals," Edwards said he believes they are attainable.
"It may take us a couple years to get there, but we fully intend to get there."
Establishing the district's new mentor program, through N.F. Woods Technology and Arts Center, also became a target for the new school year.
The program, created to assist dropout prevention efforts, will pair students with businesspeople and others throughout the community "to build relationships and navigate challenges," said Edwards.
"This is something we take very seriously," the superintendent said of dropout prevention programs.
A fifth goal established for the 2009-10 school year is the continued implementation of the district's digital conversion. Approximately 3,800 laptops were dispensed to students at East Mooresville Intermediate, Mooresville Intermediate, Mooresville Middle and Mooresville High schools at the start of the school year.
Edwards said "things have gone quite well" thus far with the laptop program in its second year and second phase of implementation. "We have a strong foundation, but we have some work to do," he added.
The final goal set by the district and superintendent is to "begin planning for high school and technical center renovation and new construction."
Although no immediate plans for a new high school or technical building have been established – no funding is available, either – Edwards said the MGSD wants to begin its initial preparations for those facilities.
"When the time comes, we want to be poised and ready to move," he noted, adding that it's "important that we move forward and look at these, start the process."
Following brief explanations of each goal, school board member Roger Hyatt said the superintendent continues to create ambitious goals for himself and district.
"We welcome the challenge," Hyatt added. "Whatever (the board) can do to help, let us know."
Also at Tuesday's board meeting, members approved a complete budget for the fiscal year.
Despite the fiscal year beginning July 1, the MGSD and other districts across North Carolina have been operating on limited expenses, utilizing partial budgets.
The recent approval of a statewide budget, however, has allowed districts, including the MGSD, to create line-by-line descriptions of their revenues and expenses for the 2009-10 school year.
District officials said Tuesday that the MGSD adequately planned for the school year using calculated figures that assumed several potential cuts, including ones from the state and county levels.
County appropriations for this fiscal year were reduced by $678,786, according to budget documents. Additionally, the MGSD was required to revert $832,824 to the state.
The state reversion, said MGSD Chief Finance Officer Terry Haas, resulted in a monetary decrease toward several items such textbook allocations and transportation funding as well as teacher and teacher assistant salaries.
Those cuts, however, were adequately assumed and planned for by the district earlier in the budget process, prior to official numbers.
Dreisa Sherrill, spokesperson for the MGSD and its director of human resources, said Wednesday no additional cuts are planned as a result of the reversion. She added that more cuts may be necessary if the state mandates another reversion of funding dollars.
Said Haas at Tuesday's meeting after presenting the budget, "The cuts we faced here in Mooresville were severe, indeed."
Edwards agreed.
"We are asking our teachers to do more with less," he said. "We're being creative and we're going after more grants."
Added the superintendent, "We have enough money to get the job done and we'll be fine."
The next MGSD Board of Education meeting will be Oct. 13, at 7 p.m., at Mooresville Town Hall.
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