At the April 26 school board meeting, our board approved the Falcons Forward - Vision 2024 plan. Falcons Forward is our district’s plan to accelerate learning and provide additional support for our students over the next three years, using the funds provided through the American Rescue Plan.

Falcons Forward focuses on addressing the following three strategies outlined in our strategic plan:

• Focusing on the social and emotional well-being and safety of students and staff.

• Providing a high-quality education for every student.

• Addressing individual student learning in innovative and challenging ways.

To address these strategies, we’re allocating resources to three areas: Student support, online school, and facilities and accessibility.

Student Support

We will add one additional social worker at each school and one additional counselor at the middle school so every student and family can get the support they need to navigate the issues the pandemic has brought to their personal and academic lives.

We will add 11 teachers across the elementary schools and middle school, which will lower class sizes by an average of four students per class, allowing for more individualized instruction, personalized learning and interventions.

We will add two paraprofessionals to build relationships and help maintain a positive and safe culture at the middle school.

We will add an EL teacher at the Area Learning Center to provide on-site support for students and staff.

We will add two high school teachers in the areas of math/technology and FACS to meet the high demand for classes in those subject areas.

Falcons Online Academy

Online learning through the Falcons Online Academy will be an option for all K-12 students. We will add an online learning coordinator and five K-12 teachers to serve as mentors, coaches and facilitators for our online learners.

Facilities and Accessibility

We will make upgrades to Jefferson Elementary that will create an enhanced learning environment.

We’ve hired multilingual office personnel to assist non-English speaking students and families at the district office.

We will provide additional bus routes so all high school students who live over one mile from school have access to transportation.

We will strengthen our early-childhood program by:

• Updating the curriculum

• Adding a multi-sensory room and equipment

• Hiring an outreach professional to work with community partners and engage families.

In addition to the above additions that are part of Falcons Forward, we’ve also committed $1 million toward summer learning acceleration using previous COVID-19 relief funds. This will allow for enhanced Summer STEAM programming and credit recovery opportunities for secondary students.