From the Desk of Patrick McKernan
Dear USD 429 Parents/Guardians and Patrons:
We are off and running and excited for the new school year. This week flew by and before long we will all be in the groove again. I am starting my eighth year at USD 429 and couldn’t be more committed to our teachers and students than I ever have before. I am looking forward to a great year of growing and a great year with your children. Our enrollment is down this year and we expected this trend the last couple years and have prepared for it. Because of the decline in enrollment and smaller class sizes we will continue to look at scheduling and class sizes as we plan for the 2024-2025 school year. The good news is we have nine new students across the district and we welcome those students and families!
As you all know, we do start school later than the other two schools in the county and the other schools in the region. This has created some conversation and we will be discussing the 2024-2025 school calendar with all stakeholders this year. We plan to get as much input as possible and survey students, teachers, and parents to see what their preferences are on a start date.
I do want to address some strategic planning updates and also some school improvements updates with you. The board of education reviews the strategic plan periodically through the course of the school year. I have linked our plan here for you. Troy USD 429 School District 5 Year Strategic Plan 2022 Column Style.pdf We will continue to look at all four of our focus areas this year and keep moving forward with the goals and initiatives. Our building school improvement plans tie in with the strategic plan. At TGS our staff will focus on reading and working on aligning grade level curriculum with focus on the Science of Reading. Troy middle school and the high school teachers will be looking at work study experiences, job shadowing days and internships, and expanding our career pathways for our students. I look forward to reporting back to you how this is going.
Again, I am excited and honored to be working another year with your children. I hope the best for them, every day, and we will work hard to help make that happen.
2023-2024 School Calendar (one page)
Sincerely,
Patrick E. McKernan
Superintendent of Schools
Troy USD 429