State of schools: Parent relations critical to student success
Sports reporter
When Marion-Florence USD 408 district superintendent Lee Leiker was asked what the most important key to student success is, he was ready with the answer before the question was finished.
"The greatest successes we have are with the students whose parents are actively involved in their child's education," Leiker firmly asserted.
"We, as a school district, and as individuals, are limited in our influence on students," explained Leiker. "But when parents are actively involved the potential is almost limitless."
Building trusting relationships with parents is a critical element Leiker said the district must continuously work on.
"We have to always realize we're dealing with their most precious commodity, their children, and we have to care for them in the best way we possibly can," Leiker said. "I think they deserve our best effort every day, and when we demonstrate that, we develop trust with our parents."
Bucking a statewide trend, USD 408 eliminated enrollment fees this past fall, an example Leiker highlighted as he emphasized the district's ongoing commitment to be more parent-friendly.
"Our board felt like we could benefit our parents by eliminating enrollment fees, knowing there's a tremendous financial burden at the first of the year when you're paying for things like new clothes, new school supplies, and new sports equipment," said Leiker.
"We had a lot of parents that were very appreciative at enrollment," he added.
While Leiker had praise for current district efforts at engaging parents, he suggested it has room for growth.
"We have to do a better job of getting parents involved to be a district that's on the leading edge of education," Leiker asserted.
"Parents are extremely critical to child success, so as we continue to develop programs to better serve students, we will continue to develop programs to better utilize our parents as a resource for quality education," he concluded.
Transportation
In a district that covers 237 square miles, getting students to attendance centers and activities is a monumental task.
"Last year, we drove over 262,000 miles on our routes and activities," Leiker said. "The average route is close to 9,000 miles a year."
This year the district operates six regular bus routes, down one from the previous year. The implementation of all-day kindergarten also reduced the need for running midday routes.
"We consolidated some, made some longer, and saved money doing so," Leiker said.
Dick Maggard, transportation director, sets the routes, and Leiker indicated a major point of concern is the time students spend on the bus.
"We try to keep students on the bus less than an hour," Leiker said.
Sometimes route buses are spotted with only four or five students on board, causing some district patrons to question the district's efficient use of resources.
"State regulations say we have to have a seat available for every potential rider on a route, whether they ride or not," said Leiker, explaining, for example, that even when high school students drive themselves to school, the district is still mandated to have a seat for them on the bus.
Noting that the district purchased a new route bus last year, the state of the current bus fleet is good, according to Leiker.
"We don't anticipate the need for any replacements this fiscal year," Leiker said.
Scheduling transportation becomes more complicated when travel for district activities is factored into the mix.
"There will be times when we have six regular routes and three or four activity buses running on the same day," noted Leiker.
The district utilizes a number of smaller vehicles to facilitate travel for small groups, in an effort to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Rising fuel costs have had limited impact on the district's transportation due to timing and good planning.
"Last year, price increases came late enough in the year that it didn't affect us," said Leiker, pointing out that the district spent $36,000 for fuel last school year.
"We budgeted more money into transportation fuel this year to insure we're covered," he said.
The trend toward declining enrollments will present an ongoing challenge to the transportation budget, one Leiker sees as manageable.
"Transportation is partially funded by the state, for students that live two-and-a-half miles or more from school," Leiker said. "We're facing a decline in qualifying students, so we need to constantly monitor and make adjustments."
Special education
As with all school districts, USD 408 serves the educational needs of students with special needs, and Leiker sees this as an area in which the district in continuously improving.
"I think our teachers throughout the district are doing a better job of serving children with special needs," Leiker said. "They continue to get training that helps them to implement new interventions to be more successful.
Special education staff are employed by the Marion County Special Education Cooperative, but Leiker is complimentary of the way in which they are integrated into the district's programs.
"Even though they aren't USD 408 employees, I feel like they are," said Leiker. "They work with other teachers as part of the same staff."
"My goal is that we continue to strengthen the relationship between special education teachers and regular ed teachers, so we can do a better job of sharing resources and capitalize on the strength and knowledge of each teacher," Leiker said.
An area of increasing emphasis for Leiker is the early identification of children with special needs, to enable interventions to make them more successful in school.
"If a student is a child with special needs in middle school or high school, it is more difficult for them to learn at a rate necessary to progress," he explained. "If we can intervene earlier, when they're not so far behind, they can experience greater success."
Leiker sees greater interactions with Head Start and local early childhood programs as an important component of the district's efforts.
The collaboration of five Marion County school districts through MCSEC has enabled all of them to provide better special education services, but Leiker acknowledged the arrangement requires ongoing efforts to ensure its effectiveness.
"The sheer existence of the co-op is based on collaboration, and its demise would be the result of a lack of collaboration," Leiker asserted. "Without the collaboration and combined efforts of all five districts, the educational benefits of the special education cooperative would be less than expected."
Leiker acknowledged recent questions surrounding MCSEC's use of USD 408 facilities in Florence, including the cooperative's expressed interest in new construction dedicated specifically to MCSEC operations.
"What the board and I would like to see is an approach to facilities that would first look within, at what we have, and to take the time necessary to analyze both current and future needs within the five districts," Leiker said.
"Like anything, change is inevitable," Leiker continued. "That change cannot be sporadic and random, but rather must be calculated and articulated like the best educational game plan."
Future directions
While society and technology have changed significantly the past few decades, school systems continue to implement programs that differ little from the way education was conducted a century ago.
Leiker acknowledged this as he articulated his vision for the future directions of USD 408.
"It's my vision that we take this district out of the traditional educational setting and create and implement nontraditional educational opportunities for both students and adults," Leiker said.
"We haven't changed nearly as fast as society has changed, as the world has shrunk," he continued. "Education has the responsibility to prepare students for a much broader role, and we can't accomplish that to the level that's expected by just focusing on the basics."
Leiker believes an important step in this transformation is to be more responsive to the needs of the community, and to seek out more opportunities for collaboration.
The construction technology program is an example Leiker points to in illustrating this.
"Our construction technology program is a step in the direction of providing vocational training in the context of high school education that works with traditional professionals in the community," Leiker explained.
Leiker takes the idea of community collaboration a step further, suggesting the district should investigate ways of supporting adults who didn't graduate from high school.
Cross-curricular education is another trend Leiker believes will continue to expand.
"Cross-curricular education is the realization that what happens in one classroom has a great benefit for what's happening in another," Leiker said. Educational objectives for students aren't isolated to individual classes, but instead are integrated across curriculum areas.
Leiker emphasized the need for the district to thoroughly prepare students for life after school, whether they choose to attend college or pursue employment.
"We have to provide experiences that make them not only more competitive, but more appealing to post-secondary opportunities," he said.
Leiker believes USD 408 should play a pivotal role in the long term health and stability of the community.
"I want to figure out ways to positively promote this district so that people take a look at moving to Marion for the quality of education they can receive, so that we are not facing a decline in enrollment, so that we become a district, a community that is stable, or growing," Leiker asserted.
"There are efforts being made in Marion and Marion County to develop growth, and I think the school plays a significant role in that — I believe people look at a school district when deciding where they want to live," he continued.
"This may be one of the greatest challenges, or opportunities, I have in this position," Leiker concluded.
