ISD 300 Board of Education and Superintendent Wilke

To: ISD 300 Board of Education and Superintendent Wilke From: Beth Theede, Director of Community Education August 2013 Report This summer has been a summer of significant change and transition for Community Education! After 18 years of dedicated service, Sue McNally has accepted a position for Winona Community Education to oversee their School Age Child Care programs and after school enrichment programs. She is working hard to assist us with the transitioning process as our new School Age Care and Enrichment Coordinator, Meghan Wall, gets started here. Meghan’s first official day with us is Wednesday, August 21 although she has already spent time with us attending trainings and planning for fall. Also, after 16 years of dedicated service, Barbara Bennett has left Community Education. (Her official resignation will follow her current medical leave of absence.) After spending my first year here as director learning the culture and the daily practices as well as gaining an understanding of what the needs of our community are, I’ve worked to put together a strategic plan for improvement and growth for our department. We’ve looked at our strengths as a staff, and have really identified how to streamline our work to put forth better programs and services through increased productivity. On the agenda tonight is a request for a Position Authorization for a .8 FTE Operations Coordinator. This position is a cornerstone of our department’s plan for the future. Our early childhood partnership with Head Start is entering its second year. We’ve made significant adaptations to the partnership structure over last year, in an effort to be more sustainable from the Head Start perspective. While we are finding new challenges to overcome, we feel it will be an even better second year of working together. By the end of this week/beginning of next week, you will notice the annual district required notices mailing in your mailboxes. The revised publication is a starting point, as we work to improve what communication tools we already have in place. We have taken the information that has always been there and attempted to make it more visually appealing. Thanks to Nancy Nunemacher for pulling all of the required information together! I’d like to specifically thank our Summer Kids Company staff for all of their hard work as always, but particularly for their dedication during our transition from Sue to Meghan. A special thank you also goes out to Angela Albrecht (Kistler) for subbing with us in the office this summer in Barb’s absence. Their work has been invaluable to our department this summer! As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or feedback you may have regarding Community Education. Watch for your Fall Community Education catalog the second week of September!