At the start of the April School Board meeting, Board members received updates from Crestwood Principals. From the Primary School, Principal Cindy Ducca recognized teacher Monica Grebb for having brought two grants into the building. The first grant was provided by Destination Imagination in the amount of $1,000. These funds will be used to cover the cost of students who wish to participate in this dynamic STEAM challenge competition. In addition, Mrs. Grebb also solicited $1,500 in grant funds to support the Primary School’s One Book, One School (OBOS) program. These funds will be used to provide each family who attends the OBOS family math night program with a bag of themed activities and a copy of this year’s book.
For her report to the Board, Intermediate School Principal Hillary Freitag-Geiger was joined by 4th grader Perry V., the winner of the building’s “Principal For a Day” PBIS prize. Perry did a wonderful job sharing news from the building, including the announcement that choir and band will be an option for fifth graders next academic year. Mrs. Freitag-Geiger shared that the end of year plans include CIS Fest, which students will be able to attend as long as they have had no office referrals, at least 80% attendance, and have earned the requisite number of Devil Dollars during spring semester.
Principal Dave McMahon presented news from the District’s 7-12 building, initially commending performing arts students for the wonderful performance of the spring play. In addition, Mr. McMahon highlighted the school’s version of March madness – a volleyball tournament. Over the course of several early mornings, five student teams and one team of teachers compete in various brackets. According to McMahon, “if you ask students, they’ll tell you they won. But if you ask teachers, they won. We’ll call it a draw,” he noted charitably.
McMahon also highlighted Maplewood student Ethan Thompson for stellar work at the Skills USA competition. Thompson, a student in the Electrical Program, won top honors at Maplewood for his work in motor controls. He moved on to earn first prize in the State Competition and will compete in the National Competition in Georgia shortly.
Superintendent Aireane Curtis shared three key proposed initiatives with Board members. Firstly, she shared plans to streamline and update the District’s Mission & Vision statement. She outlined plans to work with the District’s leadership team to create a more concise statement, with the goal to provide it to the Board for review in late fall or early winter.
Next, Curtis shared an initiative she hopes to unveil to the Board during the winter. “Portrait of a Graduate” will help define the key characteristics and qualities Crestwood graduates hope to gain during their time in the District. This key initiative will address how key qualities will be incorporated at every grade level and every interaction with teachers and staff in every building. Thirdly, Curtis highlighted plans to review the District’s current strategic plan which is now in its final year and work with staff, students, and community members to update goals and objectives for the updated plan. Curtis noted that the goal is to create a plan with actionable items, deadlines, and responsibilities for better accountability.
Lastly, Curtis shared plans to provide the Board with proposed adjustments to the daily schedules for District schools that would take effect when school resumes in the fall. She noted that bus routes will be updated to better reach pupils in the furthest areas of the Dsitrict. In addition, start times will shift by 5 – 7 minutes to enable busses to complete transporting students to the 7-12 building before collecting pupils for the Primary and Intermediate schools. Curtis is proposing the school day at the 7-12 campus run from 7:35 am until 2:44 pm; CPS and CIS will run from 9:10 am until 3:30 pm each day.
In other news, Curtis recognized Jeff Woolard and his team for successfully clearing out the first floor of the Central Office to make room for the ESC which will be leasing space. She noted that six loads of materials were taken to the scrap yard and four dumpsters were filled of broken items. She noted that several boxes of historical memorabilia were located and will be displayed in conference rooms so that staff members and community groups who use the space will get to see these unique items that highlight Crestwood over the years.
The next regularly scheduled Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 13th at the Central Office on John Edward Drive. The meeting can also be viewed online by visiting crestwoodschools.org.
