District set to meet goals for school year

Superintendent Donald Burkhardt reported on the district’s progress and reviewed the goals for the coming school year during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting.

By: Donna Lukiw
   Superintendent of Schools Donald Burkhardt ticked off his "to-do" list of goals for the district — and said most are almost complete or will be completed by the end of the summer.
   Dr. Burkhardt also set new goals for the upcoming 2006-2007 school year that he reviewed during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting.
   The district’s 2005-2006 goals included concentrating on the world language, math and language arts curriculum, which were all accomplished.
   "We have implemented Spanish in grades K through 3 and revised the existing world language curriculum," Dr. Burkhardt said Tuesday.
   The district also held a multicultural day at Weston and Roosevelt elementary schools on May 3 and 5 and offered after-school Spanish courses for the staff.
   To accomplish the math goals for the year, the district instituted basic pre-algebra in seventh-grade classes, algebra in the eighth grade, and stressed the use of graphing calculators at the high school.
   Dr. Burkhardt said for the language arts component, the district is now in the process of rewriting the K-12 language arts curriculum and is expected to be completed by Aug. 4.
   The other two goals included improving communication between Manville residents, staff and parents and training staff on using the Web site.
   "I expect all staff to have their own Web sites," Dr. Burkhardt said.
   For the 2006-2007 school year, Dr. Burkhardt is hoping to improve the curriculum in math, language arts and technology for all grade levels and enhance the life skills and character education program.
   To achieve the math goal, Dr. Burkhardt said, he will be adjusting the curriculum at Alexander Batcho Intermediate School, reviewing the entire math curriculum and continuing with quarterly district math tests.
   "At the end of the year, the Curriculum Committee will make recommendations on what needs to be revised," Dr. Burkhardt said. "Our math scores are good. We want to review and revise but we don’t want to fix something that’s not broken."
   Dr. Burkhardt said he wants to implement the new language arts curriculum, adding new novels for grades 5-12, launch a phonics program in grades K-2 and add a librarian for grades K-5.
   To accomplish the technology goal, the district is hoping to increase technology skills for staff members by providing training in educational programs Kidspiration and Inspiration that will be used in classrooms.
   The district will also be stressing oral speaking skills in grades K-12, offering new courses at the high school such as career management and resume writing, and stressing character education at ABIS to accomplish the last goal of enhancing the delivery of life skills and character education.