Prior to the first day of school, Monday, Aug. 8, Camp Verde Unified School District Superintendent Dennis Goodwin took the time to pen a lengthy letter to parents and approximately 1,600 students, providing information and announcing developments.
Those who deal regularly with Goodwin were not surprised by his candor: “As we all know, there are many challenges with each new school year. Unfunded state and federal mandates, new state and federal mandates and the search for resources to continue our technology upgrades are just a number of issues that we will face during the coming year.
“Our greatest endeavor, though, should be to always do our best to meet the needs of each and every student …. I know that each member of our staff has renewed his or her commitment to unlocking the potential of every student to help them be successful.”
To increase middle school students’ chances of success, Goodwin explained that “clustering will begin in earnest.” Clustering is a teaching model that places students with similar skill levels in the same classrooms, allowing teachers to focus on a “narrower band of skill levels, providing an opportunity to challenge each student.” According to Goodwin, the model may be used at the elementary level soon.
“Our new high school principal, Jason Douvikas, will continue our strong career and technology education programs, but also begin to focus on the five different groups who graduate from our schools: Those who move to a four-year college or university, those who move onto a two-year college, those who move on to a vocational education, those who enlist in the military and those who move directly into the workforce,” Goodwin stated.
“We want to support each student’s life path.”
After Camp Verde Middle School received a National Showcase School designation — in no small part because of its successful implementation of the Capturing Kids Hearts instruction program — Goodwin announced that all CVUSD schools will be using Capturing Kids’ Hearts methodology.
“We have brought this program full force into our elementary and high schools,” Goodwin stated. “We believe this supports many of our district goals we have set up in our strategic planning, finding ways to meet the kids where they are at in life …. We have seen amazing results from Capturing Kids’ Hearts, so we now have a point of emphasis for the other buildings in the district to fully implement it.”
Beginning this year, South Verde Technology Magnet Charter become a part of CVUSD as South Verde High School.
“SVTMC was classified as a board-sponsored charter school,” Goodwin explained via email. “CVUSD District Governing Board had authority over the charter. As a result of legislative changes the district was directed to close the charter school district and the board made a decision to bring SVTMC under the fold of CVUSD. We will keep the focus and direction of SVTMC the same under the district as it was as a charter district.”
Goodwin announced that CVUSD will be going to a single bus route in the morning, and encouraged parents to examine the new bus schedules.
“We will continue to drop off students in front of the multi-use complex and funnel them through the cafeteria,” Goodwin stated. “Last year, as a result of having the kids flow through the cafeteria, we fed breakfast to an additional 250 kids each day. My goal is to increase that number with new breakfast sandwiches and yogurt parfaits.
“Research is showing you can see a real learning gap at the start of the school year between the students who had enough to eat over the break and the ones who struggled. We have a large segment of our population who are not receiving enough food, and we want to improve that this year by meeting the diverse needs of our kids.”
Goodwin added that he love the start of school.
“It is so much fun to see the excitement and nervousness of kids coming back to school, to see teachers and staff focused, nervous and anxious for the start of classes. There is so much energy at school when we have staff and kids on campus, and it brings all of the teachers, staff and administrations hard work to fruition. I am already planning the 2017-18 school year, so for me, having everyone back in the district is a huge energy boost.”
