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2004 Workshop Reports -
Schools Discussion Group
Background
The Yellow Springs Exempted Village School
District comprises approximately 16 square miles that include the
Village of Yellow Springs, the majority of Miami Township in Greene
County, and a small part of Clark County. The school district has 87
employees. There are 58 certified teachers, 4 administrators, 1 school
nurse, and 29 classified employees. Over 70% of the teaching staff has
Masters Degrees. The student/teacher ratio is approximately 13:1.
The district enrolls 694 students in three
schools: Mills Lawn Elementary (321 students grades K-6); McKinney
Middle School (131 students grades 7-8); and Yellow Springs High
School (242 students grades 9-12). An additional 15 students are
enrolled in pre-school and special programs outside the district.
Approximately 113 students (16%) are open-enrollment students from
other districts. Comparing the number of Yellow Springs students
enrolled (not including the open enrollment students) in the 1997/98
school year to the 2003/04 school year shows that local enrollment has
declined 5.5%, while the number of open enrollment students has nearly
doubled (from 61 to 113 over that same time period.
While the data supplied to the Schools
Discussion Group focused on K-12, the March 27 th discussion addressed
education challenges and implications in a lifelong learning context.
The group also brainstormed a list of draft action plans in response
to those challenges. The group identified the following top three
challenges:
- Education Village: Become a Village that
values education and has the resources pre K through college and
adult education to support this vision.
- Education "in district"
enrollment for the Village: How do we attract people with kids to
Yellow Springs and keep those kids in schools in Yellow Springs?
- Maintaining academic quality and
educational program quality
Current Challenges facing Yellow Springs
Schools
- Increasing tax base to reduce reliance on
agricultural and residential taxes
- Meeting state standards despite small
school districts (each child counts for a greater percent)
- What is the school culture we’re trying
to enrich, and can the community impact that?
- Increasing "in district" student
enrollment
- Currently operating as a public-private
- Support for "youth issues" forums
- Legislative requirements
- Continue to support out-of-school
activities (Yellow Springs Schools are in a good financial state.
We need to maintain this.)
- Student attitudes toward academic
achievement (some students who excelled in early grades may think
it’s not "cool" and don’t do as well in higher
grades).
- Keep student teacher ratio small while
maintaining academic quality with a small school/small number of
teachers to impact students.
- Integration and knowledge and cooperation
between all education organizations including colleges and private
and the village
- Declining enrollment and increase in
"at-risk" kids for children’s center
- Projecting image of the village as an
"education village" at every level of education (public,
private, college, adult education) and provide opportunities for
students to interact
- Increase in health care costs for Yellow
Springs schools (increasing 20% next year)
- Teachers don’t live in the community a
cost of living issue?
- Publicize school quality as an education
village at every level and provide opportunities for students
Summarized and Prioritized List of Challenges
- Education Village (10 votes)
- Education "in district"
enrollment for the village (8 votes)
- Maintaining academic quality and
educational program quality (6 votes)
- Affordable housing (5 votes)
- School culture (4 votes)
- Increasing tax base (3 votes)
- Meeting State standards
- "Youth issues" forums
- Legislative requirements
Challenge 1: Education Village
The challenge is to build upon the historical
tradition of the village as a place that values education and has the
resources pre-K through college and adult education to support this
vision.
Action Plan Concepts
- Create an "Educational" Chamber
of Commerce
- Develop an infrastructure to integrate
all educational institutions, parents, and the community. The
purpose of the Chamber is to:
- Share resources
- Maximize volunteers
- Share expertise
- Create a regular forum for exchange
of information and ideas
- Publicize Village education inside and
outside the Village
- Update/model "Picture Yourself in
Yellow Springs Schools"
- Share with human resource departments,
WPAFB, etc.
Nominee: Yellow Springs Schools
(Superintendent) and Antioch
Challenge 2: Educational Enrollment
The challenge is to attract people who have
school age children to Yellow Springs.
Action Plan Concepts
- Educational Chamber (see previous
challenge)
- Affordable housing
- Housing benefits for teachers
- College owned housing? (debated)
- More housing
Nominee: Housing Group
- Daycare subsidy for working parents
Nominee: Sean Creighton
- Promote the art community and funding for
art programs
Nominee: Mary Campbell-Zopf
Challenge 3: Maintain academic and
educational program quality
Action Plan Concepts
- Increase community and parental support
- Support for the Code of Conduct
- Support for the Youth Forums
- Increase use of Volunteers
Nominee: Educational Chamber
- Keep teachers performing at high levels
- Provide professional development
opportunities
- Initiate student evaluations of
teachers
- Motivate teachers and students
- Ensure good hiring practices (in a
small Village, we cannot shuffle underperforming teachers to
other roles or locations; we must do an excellent
job in the hiring process)
- Maintain small student-teacher ratio
Nominee: Yellow Springs Schools
- Support the school district’s holistic,
balanced approach to education
- Include art, music, theater, sports,
interpersonal, diverse students and staff, outdoor education
and recreation
Nominee: Educational Chamber with School
lead
- Study Village and educational culture and
values
- Study the perceptions both within and
outside of the village
- Separate perceptions from reality and
develop a plan to address study results
Nominee: Educational Chamber
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