02 Broadcaster Press August 19, 2014 www.broadcasteronline.com Meet Vermillion Schools’ 2014-2015 Princpals By Randy Dockendorf & Alan Dale Jolley School’s Sue Galvin plans to learn the plenty As the new Jolley School principal, Sue Galvin plans to learn as much as her students during the coming year. SUE GALVIN “I’m looking forward to getting to know the Jolley students, staff and families and what strengths they bring to the school,” she said. “I also hope to model and support a positive climate in which staff will continue to commit their time and energy as professionals to build on the outstanding work of the Vermillion School District.” As part of building that positive climate, the Jolley and Austin elementary schools have invited University of South Dakota studentathletes and Vermillion High School studentmusicians to Monday night’s open house, Galvin said. With the start of classes, Jolley students will work with new computers this fall, Galvin said. “We had a computer upgrade to support a second computer lab,” she said. The students aren’t the only ones seeing new computers, Galvin said. “The district has a progressive technology plan,” she said. “This year, the teachers receive new laptop computers.” The school’s recreational offerings are also receiving an upgrade, as soccer goals will be placed on the new grass field. Besides Galvin, students will be greeted by a number of new staff members. They include Jolene Klemme in second grade, Tom Heisinger and Jodi Nordquist in third grade, Mary Ashes in special education, Tony McRae in Title I, June Mikkelson as counselor and Kayla Brouwer as library aide. In addition, Erica Bottolfson will move from special education to Title I instructor. As part of their ongoing training, the Jolley teachers attended a state Department of Education workshop on Student Learning Objectives. The teacherdriven goal or set of goals are used to establish expectations for student academic growth during a specified period of time. At Jolley, the staff has set a number of goals, Galvin said. The staff seeks to focus on student learning, using instructional strategies and customized learning to reflect the Common Core standards. The staff will also use school performance data so teachers can continue to teach their best and students can maximize their success, Galvin said. In the end, the schools seeks an engaged, positive learning environment, she said. “We are promoting the strengths of the staff, the students and parents,” she said. Vermillion High's Curt Cameron speaks on enrollment, 'Core' $2 $25 = 15 WORDS WORD WORD DS 1 PHOTO PHO O PHOTO H 2 NEWSPAPERS NEWSP PERS EWSP PE WSP ER PAPER PA 2 SHOPPERS SHO PE SHOPPERS H PER SPEEDY SALE SPEEDY SALE! SPEEDY SALE! PEED ED ALE! subjects It all comes down to numbers and that is pretty apparent to Vermillion High School principal Curt Cameron. Academically Vermillion High School is doing as well as ever, but the problem is they may not have as many students hitting homeruns as the pupil population continues to dwindle. “Our ACT scores should be out in a week or two and usually we have the top ACT scores in the state,” Cameron said. “What we do is that about 80 percent of our kids take the ACT while about 40-50 percent of the kids from the other schools do…Our ACT scores are probably around the top in the nation. We are anxiously waiting for those to come. We have been averaging 23.5 to 23.9.” CURT CAMERON Those numbers are definitely strong points for the school district, but the concern is the loss of an average of 40 kids over the last few years. “Our high school’s population last year was the lowest it’s ever been,” Cameron said. “We were below 360 kids when we normally are around 400.” Cameron also added that the district lost approximately $4,800 dollars for the difference in 40 kids. “That’s a big chunk of change,” he said. There are a lot of potential factors despite the growth in the community and outlying area. Are people having less kids? Are there more people moving in that have already had families? “It’s a question we can’t answer,” Cameron said. “It’s mind boggling.” There is also a change to the faculty roster. More new teachers are on board after a few years of less turnover. Cameron said that prior to the recession they’d lose five or so teachers yearly. “People didn’t move around as much with the stability in the job market,” Cameron said. “We also had job cuts and we didn’t replace those positions. There is now more movement in the environment and people are feeling more confident to be able to find new jobs.” The teachers are also being challenged by the district to better themselves. “All of our teachers had to be trained in Student Learning Objective (SLO) which means the teachers give a pre-test and a post-test to a chosen group of kids,” Cameron said. “The purpose is to show growth in their learning and comprehension.” Cameron said that this process is part of an evaluation set for teachers to see not only how the kids are learning, but how the teachers are responding to these challenges. “I have a feeling it will be positive.” Hartington Tree LLC Middle School principal Pat Anderson gets down to the 'Core' Be it a pledge to make his students better or to simply speak the words of allegiance, Vermillion Middle School principal Pat Anderson knows that a new school year means new challenges and change. PAT ANDERSON “We have got a lot to do this with the Common Core standards being on the national front burner,” he said. “So we are looking at getting the kids ready. Common Core is a national standard pushing math and science and all the other curriculum. It’s designed to prepare kids to be ready for the future job force and local society. If you look at the national standards now they are not much different than the standards we used to have in South Dakota.” With the fast growth of so many current industries and the constant advent of new job markets it’s hard to predict where today’s 12year-old may end up collecting a paycheck a decade-plus from now. “We don’t know what n OIAV, Page 07 Get your ad in the.. TREE TRIMMING, REMOVALS & TRANSPLANTING Classifieds TREES FOR SALE EVERGREEN • SHADE • ORNAMENTAL Today! 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