Understanding the District 518 structure

• District 518

District 518

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WORTHINGTON — Education is a continued part of everyone’s life these days, whether we are learning how to better budget our dollars or we are learning how to utilize technology. We all enjoy learning new things! Today’s article is based on the idea of helping the community better understand the structure and operational functions of District 518.

If you have participated or watched a District 518 school board meeting you will notice that most of the meetings typically last around an hour, with some being short while others may last slightly longer. This is due to the fact that our school board members have homework prior to the regularly schedule meetings. They review materials such as budgets, instructional items or general information prior to the meeting. Also, District 518 utilizes many committees to provide this background information so that the school board members can make informed decisions.

Two committees that are extremely important are the school board’s operational and instructional committees. These two committees meet a week prior to the regular school board meeting and address the items placed on the regular school board agenda. The instructional committee made up of three board members (Lori Dudley, Bob Jirele, Steve Schnieder) address the academic related items such as staffing models for the elementary, professional development requests, extra-curricular activities, policies and so on. The operational committee (Linden Olson, Mark Shepherd, Brad Shaffer) will address budgetary items such as equipment purchases, budget practices, policies, operational needs and other items that are primarily fiscal related. The chair of the board does not participate in these committees, but takes an active role in working with the superintendent and the District Office in many of the items that need to be addressed. These two committees represent the main actions of the school board.

Other committees that function within the district provide information and data for support of the instructional and operational committee. A few of these committees that will be highlighted in later articles are the staff development, community education advisory council, technology, alternative learning center advisory council, Cable 3 joint powers board and Nobles County Integration Collaborative, to name a few. On these and other committees the district often looks for community and parent participation as members of the group. Currently, the district has a need for participation by parents and the community in a number of the committees, so if you are interested, please contact the District Office and we would be happy to forward your name on to the various chairs of the committees.

In summary, District 518’s goal is to provide a quality education to all students within the district. We have outstanding teachers and support staff to accomplish this goal. The district is working to continuously improve the quality of education by planning for the future. Through a continuous improvement process that is supported by the work of a number of committees within the district, a direction has been established to accomplish these outcomes. As the district works to be financially responsible while addressing the needs of the students, parents and community, we would like to ensure that everyone understands how the district operations work. The district has a goal of continued communication to the residents of District 518 area, with your continued support and input, District 518 will reach the goal of providing a world class education for all students.

John Landgaard is District 518 Superintendent.

Tags: opinion, district518, education, worthington