Update: September 6, 2018
Welcome to the 2018-2019 School Year!
New Strategic Plan
After a year of planning that involved 800 stakeholders participating, the Board of Directors approved a new three-year Strategic Plan in June that will define the direction of MSAD #51 schools through 2021. This replaces the first-ever Strategic Plan, which was in effect from 2015 until its sunset in June. The new plan focuses the district’s energy and time on four major priorities:
- Wellness: Foundation for Teaching and Learning. This priority will promote wellness initiatives that advance and sustain healthy, balanced, and well-rounded students and staff. A comprehensive Wellness Plan will provide guidance in these six areas: Homework, Mental Health, Substance Use, Digital Citizenship, Fitness, and Nutrition.
- Early Childhood Education, the Critical Building Block. This priority will review the district’s long-term elementary education (Pre-Kindergarten-Grade 5) program and structure, including options for three and four year olds, optimal grade spans, and facilities that address projected enrollment increases over the next decade.
- Every Student College and Career Ready. In addition to a new emphasis on literacy (reading, writing, speaking, listening, and information research), and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), this priority will help us more clearly answer these questions:
- What should students really be learning?
- How do we know they’re learning?
- What do we do when they’re not learning or already know it?
- Skills for the 21st Century. Skills for Life. This priority focuses on the idea that learning is meaningful and relevant when students are engaged through creativity, innovation, and personalization of learning. An emphasis on providing career field experience for every high school student prior to graduation is another important part of this priority’s outcomes.
We have retained our tagline Engage. Empower. Inspire. For more information on the MSAD #51 Strategic Plan, watch our brief Strategic Plan Intro Video below or view our Strategic Plan Executive Summary 2018-2021.
Greely Center for the Arts Update
The new Arts Center is on schedule for completion by January 2019, if not sooner. The exterior work on the facility is largely completed and over half of the interior work has been finished. There will be an opening celebration once the building is completely finished, most likely in January. The district is currently searching for a manager for this beautiful new space.
Brick & Seat Campaign Update: The brick orders that were received prior to August 1st have been placed at the facility. The next deadline will be the seat inscription orders. To ensure your seat inscription is secured and in place by the grand opening of the facility, orders will need to be placed by October 15th. Seat orders can be placed online at any time at: www.msad51.org/donate or you can mail in or drop off your order to the Central Office.
NOTE: You can order bricks and seats at any time, but please note that any brick order placed after August 1st or seat order placed after October 15th will be placed in the summer of 2019.
New Faces at MSAD #51
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| Chris Hoffman |
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| Don Gray |
In addition to our new leadership at Greely High School, we have many new faces across the district this year. We hosted our annual New Staff Orientation on August 23 to help our new staff get acquainted with various aspects of our district. Check out our "New Faces" to see who everyone is.
Enrollment and Facilities Planning
If you have driven by the playground at Mabel I. Wilson School recently, you will have noticed two portable classroom units (4 classrooms total) on the grounds. The enrollment at MIW has increased by 70 students over the last three years alone, and the school is now out of space. In 2016, MSAD #51 commissioned a comprehensive study of our enrollment over the next decade. This report concluded that the district’s enrollment will increase by more than 250 more students during this time. As part of our Strategic Plan, we will be forming a task force during the spring of 2019 to begin looking at potential options for addressing the rising enrollment in our schools. This will be a public process and will include representation from all stakeholder groups in making a final recommendation to the Board of Directors over the next two years. At the September 6, 2018 Board Meeting, I presented additional information about our current enrollment to our Board. That presentation can be viewed here.
NOTE: I would like to note that discussions about enrollment and space needs in the schools are not in conflict with the Center for the Arts. The GCA’s function as a district-wide learning facility, designed for all students, has always been the goal. The Strategic Plan purposefully identified the arts center and long-range facilities planning as two distinctly unique and separate needs. One should not invalidate or shortchange the other; both are important advances in meeting the needs of all students. Our district is growing, growth means change, and change is a process that takes time.
Calendar Study
Also in the Strategic Plan is the formation of a work group made up of teachers, parents, administrators, and Board members to review possible changes to the current early release schedule, which has been in place for at least the last 50 years. This group will will begin its work this Fall and continue for about a year. Any changes recommended by this group would not go into effect until the 2020-21 school year. Part of this group’s review will include comparisons to surrounding districts and a thorough look at other schedules that increase student instructional time, while also providing much-needed staff professional learning time.