Moorhead Schools enters new school year with pride in our purpose
September 2, 2014
This is an exciting time for Moorhead Area Public Schools. It’s time to welcome our students back to school, and I hope you are as excited for this year as I am. As a district, we made great strides last year in preparing our students with 21st century skills. Our students are continuing to be challenged to meet their learning needs through the skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. We have hired a strong group of new teachers and have continued to look for ways to support and celebrate the accomplishments of our students and staff. We’re ready as teachers, administrators and support staff to build on this success in the 2014-15 school year.
Our teachers and administrators have been busy working over the summer learning about literacy and the best instruction in literacy, as well as aligning all curriculum areas. We continue to look for ways to improve communication with parents and the best ways to provide family support for the teaching and learning environment. Communication with our entire community is a priority and so is finding ways for the community to provide feedback to our district leaders. We continue to hold district information meetings and post articles on our website to provide information to all community members.
The district’s Facilities Master Planning Task Force will be a main focus this year as we look to community members to provide direction and vision with our facilities. We continue to work to have safe, equitable learning environments for all students. I hope you will consider serving on the facilities task force.
We are in a period of growth. Our estimates show about a 1.5% to 2% growth in student population. As you may know, our elementary schools are above maximum capacity. We are adding eight classrooms at Probstfield Center for Education to help with our current needs. However, that will not be enough in the long term. Our staff members are working hard to make sure all students have the best learning environments, but we need to develop our future plans. The facilities master planning will allow us to work with experts in the field of educational facilities to determine the best steps for Moorhead Schools as we move into the next 10 to 15 years. We need to work together with all community partners to develop plans.
Our district has developed community partnerships to provide mental health support services for students. These partnerships are vital for our students and our school community. All of our elementary schools and Horizon Middle School are part of a framework for responsible school citizenship called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports or PBIS. This framework provides instruction for responsible behavior in our school environments and celebrates the positive behaviors in school.
We must work together to carry out the mission of Moorhead Area Public Schools — to develop the maximum potential of every student to thrive in a changing world. I hope you will visit our schools and see the great work our teachers and staff members have done to prepare for the 2014-15 school year. We are ready to have a great year with pride in our purpose.
Sincerely,
Dr. Lynne A. Kovash
Superintendent
Moorhead Area Public Schools
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