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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) It’s been an interested first year for Valley City Public School Superintendent Josh Johnson who’s been on the job since July of 2016.
Johnson highlighted a few upcoming events that staff, parents and the public maybe interested in learning more about or attending in the coming days ahead.
Johnson said, “I’ve appreciated the thoughts that we’ve received from our parents this year and would encourage you to share if you have suggestions or concerns on the related items.”
Parent-Teacher Conferences (March 2nd and 6th) (Information)
Parent-Teacher Conferences are right around the corner and you likely will be receiving information from each of the schools in the next few days. I would like to strongly encourage all of parents and families to take advantage of PT Conferences to learn how your child is doing in school and how you can assist them in their academic journey. Last spring, when the PT Conferences were scheduled, the date was set for Monday, March 6th. We apologize for the conflict that this may cause because of WinterShow week. Please know in the future we will do our best to avoid any such conflicts with this community event.
Storm Make-Up Days (Information)
We have missed two days of school this year due to inclement weather and will be making up these days on Friday, March 10th and Friday, March 24th. Please mark your calendars for these two days as school WILL BE in session on these dates.
RiseAboveVC (Information)
Recently, Tony Hoffman presented to our 7-12th students, parents, and community on making good decisions. Tony shared his challenges with Substance Abuse and why he believes his life would have been easier if he would have made better decisions growing up.
In partnership with City-County Health and VCSU, a website has been created to help students, parents, and community members with these challenges. If you know someone struggling with Substance Abuse and would like resources to help them please go to this website https://www.riseabovevc.com
Professional Dev. (PD) for Teachers/Staff- Proposing Early Dismissal Days (2017-2018)(Feedback)
A great deal of discussion has occurred this year regarding the Professional Development needs of our teachers and staff at Valley City Public Schools. With our current district calendar, we are limited to the number of PD hours that we can utilize during the school year. The variety of student needs is growing in our district and we need the best professional development for our staff in order to continue to provide our students with the skills they need to be ready for college or careers.
Currently, we provide our staff with four days of Professional Development during the school year. A lot of this time is already taken by state mandates on PD. The district is considering adding 12 hours of PD to the 2017-2018 district calendar through the use of Early Dismissal Days. This proposal would dismiss K-12 students from school at 12:30pm on 3 dates during the school calendar. This plan would allow our teachers and staff the opportunity to have additional Professional Development hours strategically scheduled throughout the school year (e.g Sept, Jan, April).
We have found that other North Dakota school districts have successfully gone to this plan to meet the growing needs of PD for it’s educators. While we understand the inconvenience that this may cause for our parents, especially those with younger children, we would ask for your support in providing the tools our teachers and staff need to make a positive impact on your son or daughter. In a survey of our teachers, approximately 80% of our teachers thought this PD plan would beneficial to our district.
If you have any questions on this proposal or would like to express your support or concerns please feel free to contact me by phone or email before the end of the week (contact information listed below).
Thank you all again for helping us to provide the best education for our students at Valley City Public Schools. Together, we all can “Make A Difference” for our students.
Sincerely,
Mr. Josh Johnson
Superintendent
Valley City Public Schools
(701) 845-0483