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School to Community Connection |
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Issue 108 District News As Superintendent I want to share with you my enthusiasm for the Healdsburg Unified School District—not only for our excellent faculty, staff and administrators, but for the students and the community we serve. This is an exciting time for public education everywhere in California during which we must stretch our budgets, but we will gain so much from this process. The size of this community lends itself to an outstanding K-12 educational environment for students and I believe this school district has the tools to build on present and past successes to continue to provide an excellent education for our children. For the upcoming 2006-2007 school year, we are going to have athletic programs, drama programs, music programs, and student activities as we have always had. Because we deem these to be essential to our students’ education, we continue to face the challenges associated with the “deficit budgeting process” which identifies what additional monies, over and above those coming from ADA (average daily attendance), that must be raised to cover these and other programs for our school district. The funding for these programs is tied to timing, procedural allocations, and funding cycles. We are taking proactive steps, working with community organizations such as the Healdsburg Education Foundation (HEF), as well as with businesses and individuals, to resolve the funding issues both in the short and long term. These essential programs are also annually supported from other sources – from the State and Federal Government, private donations and other fundraising efforts. These are called “soft funds” because they are outside of the ADA monies allocated by the State for each enrolled student. The timing problem is forced on the school district as we are required to identify projected budget or personnel cuts now for the next year which are not covered by the ADA monies—even though the funding for these programs includes 2006-07 budgeted Federal funds tied to “No Child Left Behind”, as well as funds from the State of California which are projected but not available to us until later in the calendar year. Taking into account all these issues, we are making tremendous progress on all fronts of the budget process. Our new elementary school site for grades 3-5, which now has a name – Healdsburg Elementary - Fitch Mountain Campus, is fast reaching completion. Despite the rains our contractor has made excellent progress; things are on schedule to meet our target date for opening next fall. Our K-2 site, now Healdsburg Elementary - HES Campus, is scheduled for a planned exterior facelift this summer as well as classroom reconfiguration, the construction of the new kindergarten classrooms, and general painting and upgrading of the interior. The transition of the Healdsburg Jr. High to a middle school format is moving forward with approximately 175 parents in attendance at the February parent meeting. Planning is taking place as we relocate faculty members to their new classrooms, and in many cases, new sites. And, we have built in extra time to allow for the resolution of any last minute loose ends. This fall, school will start on September 5, the day after Labor Day. In the area of personnel, we have activated our search process for a new Business Officer (Ruth Karlsrud has announced her retirement), as well as for a new Healdsburg High School (HHS) principal. Qualifications and a job description for the position of Business Officer have been posted on the California Association of School Business Officers’ job website. And, a similar description of qualifications and a job description for a HHS principal have been posted on the job website of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). Both these position openings will be advertised in the regular publications of these two associations. And, already there have been inquiries from qualified candidates for both positions. We will begin the search for two Vice Principal positions in the near future. We want our new principal to be involved, if possible. Again, these are exciting times for school districts throughout California, but the Healdsburg Unified School District and the surrounding community have proven to be prepared and able to address the challenges and will continue to provide students with an excellent and competitive education. --------------------------- By Dr. Bob Carter, Superintendent Dr. Carter is the Superintendent of the Healdsburg Unified School District. He can be reached at bcarter@husd.com or by phone at 431-3488. |
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