New London School officials love their renovated facilities

By MEGAN COOPER

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? Superintendent Stephen McAllister is eager and excited to start the 2013-2014 school year, because of all the changes that have taken place over the summer and the changes that will continue throughout the year. Everyone in the district is excited about these changes, and they are waiting to see what is to come. The enthusiasm for the new year and the new image permeates throughout the board room, and New London Community School District is continuing the transformation from the current style of teaching to a more modern, technological style.

McAllister began his talk during Monday night?s school bard meeting with the reminder of the mission statement for the district. ?It must permeate in everything we do here,? McAllister said. ?The mission of the New London Community School District, through the combined resources of school, home and community, is to guide, to challenge and motivate life-long learning in an environment that fosters individual success, mutual respect, pride and personal accountability,? McAllister said.

After he reminded the board of the mission statement, he then talked about how it was apparent this summer with the Tiger girls? softball team. ?Their mentality and camaraderie as a softball team really showed the idea of this mission,? McAllister said, ?It?s a how a good team operates and they showed the idea of fostering individual success, mutual respect, pride and personal accountability.?

Last weekend McAllister spoke to the Methodist Men?s group and went over the mission with them. He made it apparent that it is an ?integral part of what we do and the decisions we make.?

During the construction update, McAllister noted, ?We?re done, and it?s been dedicated.? Over the next year or so they will be looking at ways to finish the minor details (of the aforementioned construction). Some of the summer projects included seeding of the grass, which will take place in September. Dan Meinen will take care of that for the district.

The elementary school landscaping, ?Bottom line is, another year, we need to look at minimizing the amount of landscaping we have, and what we do have, care for and keep it looking nice,? McAllister said.

The flagpole memorial will be completed when Meinen comes, he will be planting shrubs and he will add a new light. Kevin McCabe will have the wiring done this week. They want to ?illuminate the flag,? McAllister said.

?The athletic office has been remodeled and relocated. The detention room is done and the updates have been completed. The autism sensory room is done, only thing they are waiting for is the padding that will arrive on Friday. The padding has to be from floor up in that specific room. This will be a great addition to the special education department,? McAllister said.

The high school terrazzo has been stripped and waxed. ?It looks awesome. If you haven?t had the chance to walk down the halls in the high school yet, you need to. It?s unbelievable,? McAllister said, ?The entire school looks great.?

The conference room at the high school has been repainted and has new carpet. It looks ?great, so much more professional.? Before, they were embarrassed to take parents in there,? McAllister claimed.

The band room has been repainted, cleaned, organized and redone as well as the office and practice rooms. ?It looks nice in there, they painted the door frames, it looks great.? Arnie Anderson, the band director at New London Community School District and his family painted and cleaned the room during the summer. ?They did an amazing job this summer,? McAllister said. McAllister is planning on adding carpet to the practice rooms and new carpet in the main room over Christmas break or next summer.

The video classroom is basically done; they are waiting on the lighting fixtures and the anchor desk that is being donated by Sleepy Hollow. ?It?s pretty exciting stuff,? McAllister said.

Technology Coordinator Jon Munford?s room is basically done; video-editing equipment is on the way and some marker boards for the room. Munford is working on organizing it.

?The new boardroom is almost done, adding a marker board and bulletin board in the back and a sign in the front that says, ?Welcome to the New London Community School District.? The board room is truly a professional place that can be used for student testing and professional development as well,? said McAllister.

The ?elementary looks absolutely gorgeous? said McAllister. Paint was bought, one wall was to be an accent color, and teachers chose ?vibrant and exciting colors, one room is clean, neat and one wall is lime green, it?s cool. It?s exciting to see teachers excited about doing that, it is truly a place for children now.? It all contributes to the ?décor and the pride in the school,? McAllister said.

There is a website now online that entails all there is needed to know about the new video production classroom. It has a list of students, rules, expectations, grading, their calendars, and links to their shows once they have started those. It gives guidelines to creating these shows and it?s very informative for the public. It is a must see and the community needs to check it out. ?It?s very exciting,? McAllister said.

In 2012 there were 521 students in the district, in 2013 there are 535 students in the district now. They are extremely excited to get final numbers and it doesn?t appear the district will have declining enrollment as in the past, the superintendent said.

McAllister?s excitement for the new students commons area was very apparent during the meeting. He showed a picture of the students working in there and he talked about how the students were smiling and utilizing the space well. It?s been an exciting year.

New London Community School District is now off the watch lists they had been on. As of last year?s data, they are no longer a school in need of assistance (SINA) and they aren?t a district in need of assistance (DINA) either. Students have improved greatly over the years and they are looking forward to this year?s data.

Bob McPheron is retiring from the school board this year for personal reasons. He said ?thanks for all the hard work you have done,? and he is ?excited about the future of the district, there is leadership here.?

Principal Scott Kracht talked about the renovations as well and wanted to thank the custodians for the ?amazing job they did this summer. They truly worked their pants off.? He was also excited about the teachers who were painting their classrooms. ?The pride they are starting to take is amazing. They are looking forward to the change,? Kracht said.

Elementary School Principal Todd Palmatier, reported again about the elementary school. He was expressing his enthusiasm about the classrooms and the work that has been done. ?Every teacher has done something in their room. It?s a place for kids, not adults. It?s not institutional white, it?s alive,? he said. Palmatier then went on to talk about the achievement goals and how the elementary is doing. He said ?the teachers kicked it in the butt and they are off the watch list. Credit goes to the families, the kids and the teachers. If you get a chance, tell them what a great job they have done.?

The district has a few new staff members that will be starting this fall. Cory Byrne will take over the K-12 Vocal Music program. Miriah Huntington will be working in special education, Allison Leytem is the new high school/middle school English, newspaper, and yearbook teacher and Joe Garvey (2003 graduate of New London High School) will be the new industrial tech teacher.

Palmatier spoke about the changes made to the elementary school handbook. One major change was the attendance policy. According to Palmatier, some students have been missing ?way too much school, some have missed more than 30 days.? Palmatier wants a stricter policy and to really stress the ?importance of staying in school? to parents.

?The elementary and middle school will be doing a standards based report card? in lieu of the current method Palmatier said. The new way of reporting will provide more specific information about how each child is progressing toward meeting the New London Community School District?s standards. The standards specify what all students should know and be able to do at the conclusion of each academic year.

Board Secretary Jessica Boyer, discussed the idea of having a professional service come in and do a fixed asset inventory. The service would take pictures of the building, playground equipment, etc. and it would give the district a better idea of what they have. Boyer suggested this because of all ?the technology that is coming in, they will get every detail, especially with the 1:1 laptop initiative.? The board asked for more quotes from other vendors and will be discussed at a later date.

Overall, the board and the teachers present were just enthusiastic about the upcoming year and the work that will be completed as the year starts.

The board will meet again in September.