School board participates in team 'boot camp'

Although classes might be out for students of the Hot Springs County School District, Superintendent Dustin Hunt addressed the Board of Trustees on June 17 by reviewing the work that school staff have completed, as well as the work they still have ahead of them, over the course of this summer.

Hunt reminded the board that the following weekend would see them participate in the administrative team “boot camp,” which is set to lead off with reviews of climate surveys and appraisals of areas for growth in the district, before staff tackle the strategy implementation guide that’s used to coach various teams within the district on their collaborative processes.

After ensuring those teams are being measured by the same standards and are “all learning the same languages, Hunt told the board to expect a brief meeting on budget overruns and adjustments, after which the school district’s principals will supply their own data for K-12.

The “boot camp” is slated to wrap up with a goal-setting session, for which Hunt asked each trustee to come up with two or three goals for the school year to come, before the retreat itself.

Hunt specifically required the trustees examine the district’s English Language Arts (ELA) standards, with an eye toward either maintaining or slightly altering those goals, but he recommended against altering them “too awfully much” going into the next school year.“I don’t typically ask that, but I feel like we’re still in progress with that goal,” Hunt said.”There’s still work to be done under that goal.”

Hunt was effusive about the “outstanding roundtable discussion” that ensued after a recent staff meeting on aligning writing practices within the district, and following the upcoming board retreat, he promised “to try and kick our folks out of here for a little while,” given that “there’s probably not going to be lot of availability around the Fourth of July for admin.”

By the time administrators return, Hunt estimated that the district will have less than a month before staff also come back for curriculum work in early August, which is why he aims to provide daycare for them, “to get all our folks in here.”Hunt expressed pride in being able to attend a number of the principals’ end-of-year meetings, during which they reviewed their performance and accomplishments, before they explored what they want to make better, “something we’ve gotten better at over the years.”And once the board sets its goals, Hunt explained the district would build its strategic plan.

Hunt followed up on the input that the board had already received from the community on its bus lane, and unfortunately, he predicted that project is not likely to be completed before the coming school year.

Hunt stated that his preference would be to refrain from implementing the bus lane until the next school year, so as to avoid having to retrain elementary school students in the middle of a school year on a completely new entrance.

Although the architect falling ill caused delays in the project, Hunt optimistically pointed out that it afforded the district more time to engage in discussions about the project, including further soliciting community members’ opinions about what they might want.