Moving Forward

This was a long week and hoping that next week goes much smoother. I started off last weekend with two sick kids at home and then I got it on Tuesday and it took much of the week to recover. Then once I went back to work, it has taken me until today to feel somewhat caught up.

But, the point to all of that is that this week we also started having discussions about the future of our school. We are a rural elementary school located in the small town of Walton, KS, but we are a part of the Newton USD 373 district. The majority of our students are bused to us. Several years ago we made the move to a charter school with a project-based agriculture focus in order to keep our school viable. Our enrollment has since exceeded our space and now we have to figure out what we need to do next and what we can do next. Every inch of space is being used at our school. We have no more room for any classrooms, but have a waiting list of students waiting to get in. Students from our district and many students from other districts. At this point, our district has made no commitment to help with additional space or funding. Everything we are doing is completely on our own efforts and with the help of some parents and community members. We have visitors often...from other schools, districts, other towns, from families, from other states and even from the United States Department of Education who shot a video at our school on best practices. We aren't real sure why our own district is taking more of an active role but nonetheless something is going to have to happen soon and so this week I have started pondering and worrying about the future of our school and then deciding that my efforts need to be on my current students and their best interests and that the worrying will not help anyone.
So stay posted for more on moving forward...