Superintendent's Podcasts

Check here for the latest district news and insights from Superintendent Pat All. These podcasts will be updated biweekly — or more frequently, as needed — throughout the school year.

To subscribe, copy and paste this link into a podcasting tool: http://teachers.olatheschools.com/podcasts/tphillipswdsc/513 .

• Town Hall meetings about the school funding crisis have been scheduled at the high schools and MidAmerica Nazarene University.
• The dates and locations of the evening meetings are on the district Web site; click on the “School Funding Updates” button.
• The community’s investment in quality schools is at risk—resulting in larger class sizes, reduced programs and services and deferred maintenance and technology.
• The Board of Education is asking concerned citizens to community with elected officials about your priorities. Click on the “Key Contacts” button under “School Funding Updates” for legislative and Board contact information.

• Woodland Elementary, which opened in August 2008, has received the LEED* Silver Certification, which is given for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.
• Hollis + Miller Architects incorporated efficiencies in heating, cooling, plumbing, and lighting; use of recycled materials; and adaptable landscaping requiring minimal irrigation.
• Woodland is the first school in the district — and the state — to achieve LEED certification.
• The Olathe School District has been a leader in energy education and management since 1992, when we began monitoring energy consumption. Through these efforts, the district has saved more than $16 million in utilities, freeing up resources for the classroom.

*LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is the nationally accepted Green Building Rating System benchmark. 

• The year is ending with funding cuts of historic proportions and uncertainty about funding for the rest of the school year.
• This is a good time to pause and remember the joys of working with children and making a difference in their lives.
• Best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season.  

• The governor announced additional funding cuts to education last week, which means a loss of another $6 million to our district this year.
• We will continue with cost-cutting measures implemented last year, including a hiring freeze and cutting school and department budgets.
• Class sizes and student programs across the state will be affected by this financial crisis.
• We will keep you informed through the district Web site.  

• The Board of Education held a special meeting this week to discuss the impact of state funding cuts on students.
• Appropriate funding in the past has helped our district reach its highest levels ever on the Kansas Assessments, ACT scores and graduation rate.
• A decline in support for public education affects our community’s quality of life and economic development.
• The board will explore all options, including the possibility of local measures to minimize the impact of the state funding reductions on students.  

• I will be retiring at the end of the school year after 30 years in the Olathe district.
• I am pleased to announce that the Board of Education has named Dr. Marlin Berry the new superintendent, beginning July 1, 2010.
• Dr. Berry and I will work closely throughout this year to ensure a smooth transition.

• Congratulations to our high schools and junior high schools for achieving the Standard of Excellence in both reading and math on the Kansas Assessments.
• Ninety-four percent of our elementary schools also achieved the Standard of Excellence in reading or math, or both.
• Please take the time to thank a teacher, a principal or a support staff member for their hard work and dedication.  

• Congratulations to Emily Herrick, Olathe South, and Jimmy Kuhn, Olathe East, for achieving a perfect score of 36 on their ACT exam.
• Congratulations to our school communities for outstanding results from last year — achieving AYP as a district, a graduation rate of 95 percent and attendance rate of 95.7 percent.
• Thanks to our great teachers and support staff, and supportive parents and families, we expect to meet and exceed these high marks during the current school year.  

• Boundary decisions must be made nearly every year in a growing district.
• District staff meet with parents to gather input, which is shared with the Board of Education prior to any boundary decision.
• The board uses four guiding principles, which can be found on the district Web site by clicking here.
• Although change is difficult, the board will carefully consider what’s best for students.  

• Congratulations to our students and staff for making meeting and exceeding the state’s standards for Adequate Yearly Progress this year.
• Preliminary state results show that 92.5 percent of students met or exceeded proficiency in reading, and 92.2 percent of students met or exceeded proficiency in math.
• The district graduation rate improved from 94.6 percent last year to 94.9 percent this year, the highest ever.
• Subgroups of three schools in reading and two schools in math did not make AYP, and we have already implemented action plans for improvement next year.
• We’ll keep you posted on student achievement throughout the year on these podcasts.  

• Congratulations to our graduating seniors for their ACT scores, achieving an average composite score of 23 or higher at all four high schools.
• Students can achieve higher scores by participating in ACT prep courses offered by the district each year, and by taking Advance Placement courses.
• More students will have access to AP courses when the freshmen students are moved to the high school campus, beginning next fall.
• We’ll keep you posted on student achievement throughout the year on these podcasts.  

• Congratulations to all on another smooth opening to the school year. Preliminary enrollment numbers indicate that the district has again grown by triple digits.
• We are finalizing the budget — with no mill levy increase — and finalizing compensation and benefits agreement for employees, with plans to keep health insurance costs stable.
• We are busy with transition plans for next year’s shift to 9-12 high schools and 6-7-8 middle schools, thanks to shortened construction timelines on the high school additions.

• State funding for schools was cut $153 per student in the spring, a reduction of historic proportions. This month, school funding was reduced another $62 per student, or about $2 million for our district.
• The district reduced staff by 250 positions last spring, and reassigned approximately 400 employees to new positions or locations to balance class sizes across the district.
• To meet this new challenge, we may need to impose a hiring freeze at the district level this fall. We will evaluate every position as openings occur, to ensure that the most critical classroom positions are filled.  

• School funding has been reduced another $62 per student for the 2009-10 school year, or about $2 million for our district. 
• This reduction, plus $153 in reduced funding already implemented in the spring, takes districts back to pre-2005 funding levels.
• We will continue to look for ways to reduce costs. The district may also need to increase local funding in order to minimize the impact on students.