District Updates - 4.17.17

HPS Team,
I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend. I wanted to provide a few updates as we kick off the week.

Early Middle College (EMC) Programs
As part of the district's strategic plan, we continue to take steps to offer early middle college opportunities to our students. In short, an EMC requires students to remain in high school for a fifth year which allows them to graduate with a high school diploma and up to 60 transferable credits, an industry credential or an Associate degree as well as career experience through internships. While they remain an HPS student, EMC students will attend college classes their fifth year. In addition, students will participate in the symbolic senior ceremonies (i.e. graduation) with their four-year cohort. The board passed a resolution to support the implementation of two early middle college programs to begin next school year. In partnership with LESA and assuming our application is approved by MDE, the first programs we plan to launch are health sciences and manufacturing. This is an exciting development for our students and families. To view the report provided to the board, please click here.

Intra-District Schools of Choice
We currently have approximately 500 students exercising an approved intra-district transfer request to attend a (elementary and/or middle) school outside of their attendance area. While there are certainly legitimate reasons for an internal transfer, the previous criteria was based primarily on space in the building. Over the years, this has created challenges including lost instructional time due to transfer buses. 

At the April 10 meeting, the board approved revisions to policy 5113.01 (Intra-District Schools of Choice). The guidelines now require a centralized committee to review all internal transfer requests using the following criteria:

1. Is there space in the receiving school?
2. Are there family dynamics that warrant the move (i.e. keeping siblings together, split families, child care etc.)?
3. Is it in the best interest of the student’s educational success?

These guidelines do not apply or change a placement of any student or family granted a transfer request prior to the implementation of these guidelines. In addition, district employees may continue to exercise the option of sending their child to the school of their employment.

If finances allow, the District will continue the practice of transfer buses through the 2021-2022 school year to accommodate students previously granted a transfer request. After the 2021-2022 school year, transfer buses will not be assured.

Plasma Cutter Purchase

I received a question regarding the recent purchase of a plasma cutter for our HHS manufacturing program. The question related to the cost and how the district can afford such a purchase. For context, I wanted to provide some background on funding sources for some of our programs. In partnership with LESA, we provide some of the best Career Technical Education (CTE) opportunities in the state. These programs receive targeted state funding (section 61c “added cost” funds) designated by law for those particular courses, because such courses often have high equipment and operational costs. Although that state funding is sometimes insufficient to cover actual costs, our CTE teachers have found creative ways to leverage those funds to benefit our students. In particular, our CTE manufacturing program found a way to upgrade to the latest technology without any impact to the District’s general budget. We were able to purchase a state-of-the-art Plasma cutter by combining state designated CTE funds with proceeds from selling the existing, aging Waterjet cutter at auction. Specifically, the Plasma cutter cost $28,045 and was paid for with $18,867 in state CTE funds and $9,178 from the sale of the Waterjet. Ultimately, our students benefit from the creative ways our CTE teachers leverage targeted state funding to upgrade equipment for their programs.

State Budget Update
We continue to monitor the budget developments at the state level. MASA recently released a 2017-18 School Aid Budget Summary that compares the proposals from the governor, House, and Senate. This continues to be a fluid process.

Winter Sports Report
John Young, our athletic director, shared a report on our winter sports season. Our student-athletes continue to impress both on and off the field. They were recognized for a number of team and individual accomplishments while working to achieve a combined 3.29 GPA. Thank you to our coaches for providing our student-athletes with these life-long learning experiences. To view the complete report, please click here.

State of the District
I would like to invite you to the second annual State of the District on Tuesday, April 25 at 6:00 p.m. in the Parker Middle School commons. Please RSVP to Jan by April 21.