Granton District Administrator and Principal Provides Strategic Plan Update

Friday, March 4th, 2022 -- 3:01 PM

-The Granton School District recently completed and approved a Strategic Plan for the District. So far, they have completed several items.

I spoke with Granton’s Administrator, James Kuchta, and High School Principal, Amanda Kraus, and they discussed the background of the plan and what has been accomplished so far.

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Here's a deeper look at what has been accomplished so far:

Educational Quality Action Team:

Jess Schier reported the following information”

• School staff were invited to participate in discussion about advancing the way we deliver  education. Staff were invited to attend school visits and some thematic units have been  implemented. 
• Academic support strategies have included a ZAP program for middle school where students  complete missing work during lunch time. High school strategies include the WIN program.  Everyone needs a person they can go to when needed. Students were given a survey to identify  their person. Based on that information, students were put into groups of 5-6 students and they  meet with their teacher or person during homeroom. During this time there are different  activities or team building activities. Students can also use this time to see another teacher for help with school work. This program has been going well. After school homework help once  per week has also been implemented for MS and HS students. Finals study sessions for high  school students and a reinforcement day were also recently held for students to catch up on  missing work or to meet with teachers to reinforce challenging skills. 
• Behavior management focus was also encouraged for each teacher in their classroom as their  professional goal for the year. The group is participating in a book study titled Hacking  Classroom Management. It is a great book with quick and simple ways to adjust classroom  management. 
• School Visits were completed. A group of 4 teachers visited two schools in October. The first  was Wildlands Charter School which is located on the Beaver Creek Reserve and is through the  Augusta School District. This school focuses on scientific research and project-based learning.  The group also visited Anthony Acres School which is a public charter school through the  Mondovi School District. This school focuses on Place based education through project-based  learning, STEAM focus and environmental education through use of a 36-acre forest. The group  did not feel that our school would be successful fully implementing a charter-based program  however they felt there were some pieces that could fit well in the structure and environment  of our school. They brought back ideas of projects for each level of school to incorporate some  project-based learning and use of the school forest. These include, obtaining a trail camera  through the DNR program to be placed in the school forest and this will be checked regularly by  classrooms and information is logged through the DNR. Students of all ages will help in this process. A question was asked about Graduation requirements and if charter schools had to  meet the same requirements. Yes, they do need to meet Graduation requirements. The way they meet them is different though. 
• Implemented Thematic Units. K-2 did a Christmas/Reindeer Unit. 4K-5 will be starting a winter  Olympics unit that will correlate with the Beijing Winter Olympics. Specials teachers such as art,  phy ed and music are also participating. The unit began on Friday 2/4 and will run for 2 weeks.  Students will be researching, learning and presenting projects about the Beijing Winter Olympics  and will be attending a field trip to Bruce Mound and participating in our own Granton  Olympics. 

Staff Enrollment and Retention Action Team:

Kim Aumann reported the following information:

• Story hour at the Library. This was started at the beginning of the school year. It runs on Fridays  at 10:00 AM. Families in the community can bring preschool age kids and daycare is able to  bring kids also at times. They have stories, crafts and songs. Some of the families that are  coming have never been to the school before and now come regularly and now have a library  card. 
• Staff WIN meetings were held and staff came up with a long list of things that are awesome  about Granton. Some of the highlights included an ability to have connection between all grade  levels, opportunities to incorporate project-based learning, community outreach such as library  story hour, and leaf raking. Some cool classes include fab lab and the new drone class, a stock  market unit in the business class. Different ways of helping students were also discussed. Our  great facility was also highlighted and that includes the pool, daycare and on-site school forest.  
• A Community Event Committee has been started and is called Growing Granton Strong. Some  upcoming events include a BINGO night on February 16th at Fannies (for adults only), and a color  run for students and adults. The color run will be free for all Granton students that participate.  Watch for more information to come about the color run. 
• An open-Enrollment Survey has been sent out to all open enrollees out and to those that have  open enrolled in. Responses are still coming in for those and then data will be looked at.  Currently 46% of the open enrolled out have responded and 36% of the open enrolled in have  responded. 
• Staff compensation and benefits are also being looked at and reviewed by the board. 

Co-Curricular, Student Activities and Youth Development Action Team:

Char Johnson reported the  following information:

• Expanded open gym and pool hours have started. Open gym and swim is held on Sunday nights  from 6:00 pm until 7:30 pm. Open gyms are also held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from  6:30-7:30 AM. Participation in the morning open gyms has been small at this point. These are  open to community members. 
• Wrestling has been offered as an opportunity for HS. There were a few high school students  that have tried this. 2 stayed with it and 1 wrestled consistently. The board recently approved  wrestling as an exploratory opportunity for middle school. Some middle school students have  tried this and may be participating in some weekend wrestling tournaments coming up.  • Battle of the books is being held as a competition through the library with student grades.
• Daycare expansion occurred and they now have a transition room for older toddlers and school age students for after school and no school days. 
• Summer athletic camps for basketball were held during the summer. This year’s youth baseball  was a large group of students as well. 
• Elementary Enrichment Club has started and is held on Tuesdays after school. This has been a  huge hit and is a lot of fun. Students are enjoying the fun and learning without actually realizing  they are learning.  
• There is talk about possibly trying to have a volleyball team in the fall as well. • A student interest survey was completed. Results from that survey need to be looked over and  reviewed further. 

Promotion and Marketing Action Team:

Dana Klein reported the following information:

• The school spirit store was kicked off Fall-Fest weekend. There have been more community  members interested than students at this point. Mapleworks Café provided gift certificates to  students for the school store as an incentive to get kids to check out the store. 
• Spirit days have been held throughout the year and in conjunction with special things such as  homecoming. 
• Student voice committee – This has been implemented in the MS/HS area. Students on the  committee have been coming up with incentives, ideas and suggestions. It is a way for their  voice to be heard.  
• District bulldog spirit theme – Classes have been decorating and participating in bulldog spirit.
• Christmas store was brought back and was a huge success this year. Thanks to some community  donations and donations from the Granton School District Foundation, all students were able to  shop this year. They need donations of wrapping paper and gift tags for next years store.
• An end of year parade is also being discussed for this school year. 

Facilities and Finance Action Team:

Robby Roehl reported the following information:

• HVAC upgrades are currently taking place. Some of the process is already complete. There is  some equipment and supplies currently on back order. If things continue on track, it is  projected that there will be AC everywhere but the pool and gyms by the end of summer.
• Lower parking lot repair will be going out for bids. 
• Building was switched over to LED lighting over the summer. There has been some cost savings.  Perhaps not as much as projected, but this project should pay for itself in approximately 3 years.
• Roof repair on the wing going toward the road will be taking place this spring and summer. 
• Bus replacement is being discussed and quotes are being reviewed by Mr. Kuchta and the  transportation director.  
• There have been companies in looking at the sound system and providing quotes for that. 

After reports were provided by each of the action teams, the groups broke out into their teams for  discussion on the next steps. Groups then reported back to the entire group regarding the next steps:

Co-Curricular and Educational Quality:

These groups had a combined discussion and felt that the next  steps would be to assess metrics and data to determine how the themes and programs are making  students successful. Also survey results should be looked at and reviewed further to determine if there are additional opportunities. 

Staff and Enrollment Retention:

The group felt there should be focus on sharing the successes of  Granton alumni. They want to start by promoting what is already on the website and on Facebook. The  group also wants to focus on some staff appreciation. It was suggested that a food truck event be held. 

Promotion and Marketing:

The group felt that they want to focus on community access for the school  forest, which might be able to happen with the parking lot remodel. Also, they would like to get a  billboard or signage that can be placed in the triangle area near highway 10. This could promote school  events and things going on, open swim and gym, etc. 

Facilities and Finance:

The first goal of this group will be to work on the lower parking lot upgrade.  This will not only look better, but will make the parking lot much safer. The HVAC project will also be  completed.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.