Tecumseh Public Schools mark accomplishments in year one of strategic plan

TECUMSEH — Tecumseh Public Schools has accomplished much in year one of its strategic plan, especially in the area of curriculum with the addition of new curriculum director Meghan Way.

Under Way, a new five-year curriculum review has been put in place. All content areas are reviewed every five years.

“We’ve recently completed English language arts and math in the past two years and are now finalizing science and social studies. The process is led by teachers and takes a full school year to complete,” Way said.

The school district also implemented a new course adoption process for when new courses are proposed to be added to the course catalog. This process turns up the type of teacher certifications required, aligns the course with the district’s vision and mission, and determines which students will participate in the class as well as how the course fits into the district’s master schedule.

Instructional coaches support curriculum implementation every month. They also go through ongoing and sustained professional development.

The district has already added a new career and technical education course in engineering and design at the high school.

Teachers for kindergarten through eighth grades at the same grade level or department have at least one hour during the day to plan and develop their curriculum.

Teacher professional development is a big part of the plan, including professional learning in the areas of curriculum, instruction and behavior management focusing on district goals.

Teachers also review data several times a year and develop goals and next steps to increase student outcomes.

Career exploration for students in the Young 5's through eighth grade is incorporated into Project Lead the Way programming, specifically in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As part of this programming, students have the opportunity to learn about different careers and explore their interests.

The district started its new middle and high school Educators Rising Club, which is designed for students interested in pursuing a career in education and combines hands-on learning with field experience.

There also is an inventory management system of sorts in place designed to keep track of supplies and equipment, mainly consisting of technology.

“Right now, we do not have an official software that manages that for us, but the technology department is currently working on that,” district communications director Victor Pratt said. “We use a program that tracks how many are in use and what people are looking at, depending on what is being tracked, like Chromebooks. For parts, that’s more spreadsheet-driven right now.”

The district hired new human resources director Danielle Adamczak, who has implemented new orientation processes for new hires. Some of the changes to the onboarding process have been material. New employees receive a swag bag full of Tecumseh Public Schools-branded goodies from the district.

New hires meet with Adamczak and members of the administration and employees at their building before they start.

“There’s not much turnover during the school year, so most of the onboarding is done in groups before the school year starts,” Pratt said.

For orientation, new hires meet with Adamczak at each building, especially teachers and support staff.

Substitute instructional assistant pay increased to $13 an hour. Permanent instructional assistants, who serve special needs students, got a 5% pay increase. Still, the highest paid IA with 20-plus years of service is paid just $15.88 an hour.

A positive behavioral interventions and supports initiative is now in place. PBIS uses positive reinforcement to improve student behavior and school climate.

“The program varies between participating organizations but mainly consists of students receiving tickets for positive behavior that they can trade for prizes. It’s a bigger deal in our ELCs (early learning centers) and ILCs (intermediate learning centers),” Pratt said.

Since the failure of two bond campaigns in 2022, the school board and Superintendent Rick Hilderley have worked on a plan to target certain district areas for capital improvements. Some of the priorities for the district have been security upgrades.

“We are currently in the bid process as we look to better secure our entrances at Tecumseh Middle School and Tecumseh High School. Fixing the Field Turf at Indian Stadium was a priority. It may be unpopular with some of the public, but the field's lifespan is 10 years, and through tremendous care and upkeep, we extended the life of the field by five years,” Pratt said. “However, the field needed to be replaced, becoming a safety issue for those using it, not just the football team. Other capital improvement priorities include pool updates, boilers at our buildings, and roofs.”

In addition to many of the strategic goals in year one of the strategic plan being accomplished, budget priorities for the next academic year have been set by the school board with a fund equity target of 12% or higher.

The school board has put forth a recommendation against closing any buildings. A big concern among parents and members of the community was the potential of closing Herrick Park Intermediate Learning Center.

The board reviewed potential savings by closing that building and consolidating student learning at Patterson Intermediate Learning Center. Total operational costs for Herrick Park are $1.8 million a year. It was estimated the district would save $500,000 to $600,000 a year by closing Herrick Park.

The administration team was not able to demonstrate a plan that would allow students to quickly and efficiently arrive at and depart from the campus. In addition, there were other small cuts in programs that would need to take place if all third- and fourth-grade students were housed at Patterson.

Under the board’s recommendations, no cuts will be made there or to any positions on the band and orchestra staff. The board also encouraged Hilderely and his staff to continue to look for ways to reduce spending.

“It's important to remember that the budget we looked at is very preliminary as we are still waiting for the official per student funding amount from the state. Once we have received that information, Mr. Hilderely and his staff will put together an official budget that will be approved in June,” school board President Tony Rebottaro said.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Tecumseh schools mark accomplishments in year one of strategic plan