By Sue Moore
Sunset Elementary School honors its leaders every month as part of the Leader in Me program. Principal Amie McCaw instituted the Franklin Covey course work four years ago at the school. On October 30 it was her turn to receive an honor with a visit from Mary Judnich, regional manager for Senator Debbie Stabenow. She was with McCaw to shadow her activities as part of the National Principals Association’s effort to reach out to its elected officials. She was there to find out what a principal does to keep things running smoothly.
For the monthly Vicksburg School Board meeting it was McCaw’s chance to inform the board on her school’s achievements over the last year, including the test results on MSTEP and the Star achievement. Some of these results are available on the school’s web site dashboard.
“We made some good gains in reading proficiency overall. English Language Arts in the MSTEP tests were good with math proficiency still needing some work to be where we want to be,” McCaw said.
Trustee Rudy Callen asked about how new teaching staff can get acclimated to the Leader in Me and the seven habits it espouses. McCaw mentioned that they concentrate on one habit per month with kids helping to lead the discussion. “We have become facilitators now with our families, sending materials home to build our family connections,” McCaw said.
At the end of the meeting, Jennifer Rodas, the newly elected union representative for the teachers, told the board that she is in her 10th year of teaching Spanish at the high school. She complimented the administration for its handling of the air quality complaints at Sunset Lake school, saying the teachers are very appreciative of having the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health come in to evaluate the air quality. She said the [situation] has changed for the better and thanked the administration for its efforts.
Steve Goss, assistant superintendent for finance reported that the district enrolled 2,695 students thus far. This was within five students of the number predicted in early budget projections for the 2019-2020 school year.