From the Desk of Patrick McKernan
Dear USD 429 Parents, Guardians, and Patrons:
I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the nice spring weather. We certainly invite and enjoy the nicer days in the school business as it allows the students and staff to enjoy the sunshine, and the opportunity to move about a little more. I have said this before, but time does not seem to slow down the older I get. And this school year went fast but is winding down. We do have fifteen days left and we need to make them as productive as possible.
Thank you to Mrs. Adrienne Geiger for her time and leadership planning for the annual Community Service Day. Mr. Prudden has also been instrumental in making this happen at the middle school and high school level. They both put in a lot of time, and we appreciate their organizational and communication skills to make this day happen. We look forward to Friday, May 2 to help the community out.
Annual Crisis Drills – We will be wrapping up our required crisis drills this coming month. We will be conducting a building wide lockdown drill, which is a drill that keeps students and staff in their current area, until the all clear signal is given. Every school building in the state conducts these drills.
A group of visiting board of education members, school administrators, and teachers from across the state, visited the Troy School District last week. 23 visitors in all. This group is part of the Leadership For Tomorrow group. The purpose of the LFT group is to explore change theories and strategies, gain training in leadership skills and expand their understanding of education and key issues for effective governance with a focus on raising student achievement. Mr. Prudden, Mrs. Engemann and I shared information and the history of the Troy School District while highlighting some of our community engagement activities that you as patrons support. As I told Mr. Prudden and Mrs. Engemann, it is easy to get in a rut and worry about those challenges we face daily. This group was certainly impressed with our campuses and our people.
We still need activity drivers and substitute route drivers if anyone is interested in getting a passenger endorsement CDL. Contact me if you are interested. We are also looking for drivers for regular routes in vans and our SUVs. You do not need a CDL to drive a ten passenger van, but there a few other safety requirements to cover.
Hang in there with us as we finish up the school year. We have a lot of great events and activities coming up that recognize our students and their accomplishments. I plan to enjoy as many of those as possible and hope you do as well.