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CLINTON – Officials gave community leaders an overview of the Clinton School District’s plans and goals during the annual Vision of the District luncheon on Thursday at the Rastrelli Special Events Center in Tuscany.
Each year, the district informs businesses and government officials about what the district has done and asks for feedback on how the school district can prepare students for positions in real roles.
Director of Learning Wes Golden spoke to the audience about Portrait of a Graduate, a list of things a student will know and be able to do upon graduation.
Schools need to rethink the way they teach children, Golden said. The skills students needed for jobs over the past decade will not meet the needs of future vocations, he said.
The district needs help from the community to create the portrait, Golden said. “We want to know what you need our students to be able to do,†he said.
District officials will meet with community representatives for the remainder of the school year and hope to have a portrait of a graduate that the school board approves in May.
Director of Student Services Rhea Wright spoke about the grants the district has received for at-risk students and the programs the grants will fund for.
Having Life Connections therapists in every school building helped the district win the grants, Wright said. Therapists had full schedules at the end of last year. The district could use more therapists, she said.
One grant is for a therapeutic classroom, which is expected to address intensive behavioral needs through a student and adult support program, staff and parent training, and student integration plans.
Money from the McKinney-Vento sub-grant will be used to help homeless students register, intervene, purchase school supplies, clothing, materials for extracurricular activities, food, care health and academic tests.
Homeless students are not only those who live without a car, outdoors or in abandoned buildings, but also those who live with other families because they have no home of their own, Wright said. .
The GEER II grant pays for mental health support, Wright said. The Clinton School District plans to increase its learning conditions scores each year through 2023, reduce chronic absenteeism to the pre-COVID rate of 18.8% or better, and increase its graduation rate to 86% or more.
Whittier Elementary School received a $ 50,000 elementary computer science grant, Principal Brian Kenney said Thursday. Only 12 schools in the state received the grants, he said.
“We are looking for a community partnership,†Kenney said. “We are trying to prepare our children to work for you,†he said.
“We see IT as a tool,†Kenney said. It is not a one-size-fits-all class, but its concepts are taught as part of each class.
Computing helps to understand how and why technology works and creates solutions based on technology.
When Synergy instructor Matt Tobin was unable to make it to Thursday’s presentation, Clinton High School senior Hillary Burken spoke for her.
“It already has the characteristics that we want our children to have,” said CHS director JR Kuch, who said he did not know enough details to discuss the Synergy program himself. “I know she’s prepared for this.
Burken is in his first year at Synergy. She had to rearrange her schedule to work there, but the change was worth it, she said.
In Synergy, high school students are confronted with real problems by organizations and businesses and find real solutions for them. Last year’s Synergy class researched murals on brick buildings in other communities and set up a program to do the same in Clinton, Burken said.
They will have at least one building completed by the end of the school year. Synergy has appreciated the advice of local abstract artist Gabriella Torres and will be visiting her studio next month.
A donation of $ 1,000 from Nestlé-Purina will help the project.
Synergy met with Erin Cole and Andy Sokolovich from the Clinton Regional Development Corp. to discuss industrial needs, with State Senator Chris Cournoyer to discuss science, technology, engineering and math, and with Julie Lonergan, who pitched the idea for a school store. for students in need.
Synergy will have an open house on Thursday, October 7, Burken said. “If you need it, we want to help you,” she told community leaders.
District Superintendent Gary DeLacy concluded the District Vision with a report on the new high school. The foundations are being laid for the new three-story university wing. DeLacy said the space feels less like a school and more like a business to provide students with more creative and collaborative opportunities.
The district plans to move into the new addition in December 2022, DeLacy said.
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