Dear Alva Public Schools Community,

This week I will begin to review the different Goal Areas, Initiatives and Action Steps that make up the district's Strategic Plan. The first area to review is our Personnel Goal Area which is led this year by Mrs. Marteney and Dr. Nighswonger. The community and staff representatives for this goal area are Kelly Parker and Terry Smithey. This area has two objectives:

1. To recruit and retain quality staff and;

2. Develop quality staff in all areas

To achieve these objectives the district began the initiative to develop a recruitment plan. A couple of the action steps that have been completed to date to achieve the first objective have been to review the staffing in our support departments.

Mrs. Marteney formed a committee that reviewed support areas such as custodial and transportation. From this meeting, a ticketing system for maintenance requests has been implemented, and a head custodian was reestablished in the district. Additionally, a review of substitute salaries was conducted by the administrative team. As a result of this review, the district increased substitute pay for certified and non-certified staff.

The administrative team is currently reviewing extra duty and support salary schedules from area districts and districts of similar size. Currently, APS is working with NWOSU to create a “Grow Your Own” program to identify and encourage students to enter into the teaching profession. Additionally, research-based retention and job satisfaction strategies are being implemented. A couple of strategies that have been employed this year for our employees is to work with NWOSU on providing free admission for NWOSU sporting events and we have also offered the use of the indoor athletic facility by our staff.

With regard to the objective of developing quality staff in all areas, the district is working on various action steps to meet this objective. Currently all elementary schools have employed Professional Learning Communities which allow for teachers to meet and discuss curriculum, instructional, and assessment challenges. The secondary principals are working this year to devise a plan to create opportunities for teachers to meet at the middle school and high school levels. Additionally, professional development surveys have been used and the professional development committee meets to ensure that we are providing relevant professional development for the staff.

As with all goal areas, performance measures were developed by the strategic planning committee to track our progress. One of the measures is by 2024, each school site will have one counselor according to school personnel reports. When the plan was developed we employed 3 counselors for the district, currently we have four counselors in the district. Another performance measure created by the committee was that by 2024, the teacher to administrator ratio will be 14:1 according to the District Profile Report. The teacher administrator began at 16:1 and is now at 14.5:1 and when combining our 72 support staff it is 23:1.

The next performance measure that we have been able to calculate is that by 2024, 80% of staff respondents will strongly agree/agree that the school schedule allows for teacher collaboration according to the Teacher Climate Survey. Initially our baseline data was at 71% and we have remained at the level since the beginning of the strategic plan.. The next performance measures states that by 2024, 75% of staff respondents will strongly agree/agree that the school schedule allows for teacher prep/planning according to the Teacher Climate Survey. The initial measure was at 74% and since surveying in 20-21 our percentage has decreased to 73%.

We will continue to work towards meeting the objectives and performance measures set forth by the strategic plan committee while meeting the current needs of our students and staff. There are other performance measures that we will continue to calculate and update on the scorecard which can be found at http://www.alvaschools.com under the Accountability Tab.

Alva Public Schools is fortunate to have some of the best staff in Oklahoma. We are also thankful for the partnerships we have with Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Northwest Technology Center to enhance the opportunities for students and our staff.

The next goal area that will be reviewed is the area of curriculum and instruction. For more information on the strategic plan and to review, please visit http://www.alvaschools.com under the Accountability Tab.

Thank you for your support of APS!

Tim Argo, Superintendent,

Alva Public Schools