SBPS Annual Report 2019-20

Scottsbluff Public Schools | 3
DISTRICT LEADERSHIP
From left: Ruth Kozal, Vice President, Terry Gilliland, Lori Browning, Back row from left:
Rick Myles, Superintendent, Bob Kinsey, President, Paul Snyder, Mark Lang
The Scottsbluff Public Schools'
Board of Education consists
of six highly dedicated
community members who donate
significant time and energy for the
sake of students and a quality educational
program. These positions
are uncompensated and require
a lot of work beyond the monthly
meetings that the public sees. They
represent all walks of life in our
community and do all they can to
champion the needs of children
and help to lead a strong, responsive
educational system.
Scottsbluff Public Schools Board of Education
RICK MYLES, SUPERINTENDENT
Hello Scottsbluff Community,
What a joy and honor it is for me to be the
Superintendent of your school district!
Throughout my tenure here – now in its
tenth year – I have stood witness to an
impassioned commitment from every
part of our community to do what’s best
for our children and for their future. And
yet, despite all the experiences over the
years, every day still brings surprises.
In his book, Life in Classrooms, researcher
Philip W. Jackson writes, “Teachers have
200 to 300 exchanges with students every
hour (between 1200-1500 a day), most of
which are unplanned and unpredictable
calling for teacher decisions, if not
judgments.” Larry Cuban, in his article,
Jazz, Basketball, and Teacher Decision
Making, further reflects, “Neither teacher
nor students can say with confidence
what exactly will happen next… Effective
teachers, then, like top jazz musicians and
basketball rebounders improvise – decide
on the spot – as they deal with both the
routine and unexpected in the art of
teaching.”
Message from the Superintendent
Despite (or perhaps because of) these
challenges, as parents, as community
members and as educators, we are
constantly “second guessing” ourselves.
Like any important effort – none more
so than the responsibilities associated
with educating and raising kids - it takes
all of us to make it work. And, each day,
each decision, requires our very best.
In this endeavor, these decisions can
be especially life impacting and very
unpredictable. Undoubtedly, our work
can be so “high stakes” for any given child
at any given moment.
Is it any wonder that all of us – teachers,
paraprofessionals, secretaries, custodians,
bus drivers, principals or superintendents
– drive home each day shaking our
heads about the one child that worries
us, the one decision that didn’t work out
as we’d hoped, or the one interaction
that didn’t go so smoothly – forgetting
everything that actually went very well
and truly enriched a life – perhaps,
forever.
For these reasons, this annual report
becomes especially important. While
each day inevitably brings its own joys
and disappointments, this publication
allows us to take a step back and
broadly examine the greater impact
of literally millions of decisions and
judgments that our staff makes for our
kids each year. This report brings us
the opportunity to be more strategic
and reflective about where we’ve been
together and where we are headed. In a
very public manner, it makes us just a little
bit more accountable as an organization.
That’s its purpose.
Starting with our Board of Education our
school district looks to our community for
leadership. The expectations generated in
our District Strategic Plan and, in turn, in
our schools’ Target Implementation Plans
are driven by the needs of our students,
our community’s values and a resultsoriented
attitude.
Throughout this document you will read
about our school district’s plans and our
accomplishments. You should see our
successes as well as our challenges. You’ll
see points of pride and efforts to grow
even better. Hopefully, what you’ll see
throughout is that we are all working
together. You’ll see a systemic and clear
focus. You’ll feel an energy that’s grounded
in our students and their future.
Thank you for taking the time to read
through this Annual Report to the
Community. It’s very challenging to
capture the work of so many for an
entire year in a relatively brief publication.
But, we hope it’s helpful in making
connections and sharing with you some
key components of what drives us as we
work to meet the needs of “every child,
every day.”