Successes:
• Improved engagement and relationship for students with their subjects and teachers/administers.
• Dramatic improvement in graduation rate in short span of time.
• Friendly atmosphere in each building, more folks knowing each other’s names and respectful greetings.
• Reduction in discipline reports, improved attendance.
• Increased opportunities for students to develop extracurricular skills and friendships.
• More facilities for the community as a whole to conduct activities from sports to arts.
Challenges:
• Balancing student body populations.
• Adjusting to academies.
• Change in how we offer choices to the students.

Preschool: Funding and access. Pre-K in Juneau will operate under stimulus funding and is not included with the legislative funding formula so sustainability is an issue. Pre-K is not available to all families and this is important instructional time.
Elementary: Meeting basic literacy and math skills for all students. These are the formative, building block years. Being grounded in solid academic foundation is the highest priority. This level needs intervention resources for those students who are struggling. Collaborative time for teachers to partner and mentor each other, literacy programs and trainings, special needs staff, are all part of the essentials.

The district has a number of strategies to address these students that I hope will be consistently implemented. This is an area in which we need to “own” all of the students; everyone has a part in addressing this need. Some of the practices that are showing great gains are the 9th grade program of focusing on that group, smaller learning communities, advisories, literacy coaches, teacher collaboration time to improve skills and practice, doing a better job of transition times in schools and each building having a specific plan for how to improve instruction and connectivity to all students.

This has been a focus of the board and the policies have recently been reviewed and are clear.  These behaviors are about an inequity in power, an acceptance by witnessing adults and peers, and they are demonstrated on school grounds and in classrooms so staffs and students need training on how to appropriately react immediately in a consistent manner when they hear or see these demonstrations. Curriculums for teaching students about acceptance of others are available, and we need to continue improving school climate and safety by surveying to get feedback on what is happening in schools.

The Drug Testing Task Force that met this past summer has recommended a comprehensive approach to addressing this need in the JSD and the Board recently accepted those recommendations. Beyond testing athletes, it recommended voluntary testing and quarterly educational forums for students, staff, parents and community members. We need to keep the whole community involved in this process. This needs to include the medical community and a networking system of all community resources and expertise. The district cannot legally require tests beyond the athletes. Also, science-based curriculums on prevention are essentials at all grade levels.