The Board of Education (BOE) has attempted to address the long-range needs of the USD 434 School District by conducting a planning process that included various factions of the school district. These groups included students from both the junior high and high school levels, building site councils, building PTO's, building certified and classified staff, administrative staff, and patrons of the community. Through this process, the BOE identified the following five areas that it would pursue over the next few years. The five areas are:

• Update Santa Fe Trail High School facilities
• Community satisfaction / ownership of all facets of USD 434
• Maintain and improve student test scores
• Address declining enrollment issues
• Review junior high configuration.

These five areas will become the primary focus of the BOE. Plans will be developed to address each of the five focus areas. The BOE and superintendent of schools will report on a regular basis the progress being made towards the long-range plan to the patrons of USD 434. On a yearly basis, the BOE will determine if a focus area should be deleted or a new focus added to the district's long-range plan.

Update Santa Fe Trail High School facilities

The BOE will develop a plan of action to modernize Santa Fe Trail High School for the 21st Century.

Over the past few years, USD 434 Santa Fe Trail has tried to address perceived/needed facility improvements by attempting to pass a bond issue(s). Through these attempts a portion of the bond issue called for the construction of a new junior high facility to be built connected to the current high school. This will not be considered in this focus area.

The BOE will begin exploring what are truly needs of the high school. Through this process the BOE will determine what the district can do with the resources it has available and what cannot be accomplished with district resources alone. In attempting to determine the needs of Santa Fe Trail High School, the district will explore ways to get input from the district community on building facilities.

Spring 2008

• The BOE will review what they believe is or isn't needed at Santa Fe Trail High School. (students, building administration, building staff, building site council, superintendent, BOE)
• The BOE will determine what facility needs can be addressed through capital outlay expenses and determine a timeline to address these needs. (superintendent, BOE)

Summer 2008

• The BOE will begin discussions as to how to address needs of Santa Fe Trail High School that cannot be addressed through the capital outlay fund. (superintendent, BOE)

Fall 2008

• District patrons will be surveyed as to what improvements at the high school they would or would not support. (superintendent, BOE)
• To address the facility needs of Santa Fe Trail High School that cannot be addressed through capital outlay, the BOE may consider visiting with a new financial advisor and new architect to explore affordable solutions to the facility needs of Santa Fe Trail High School. (superintendent, BOE)

Community satisfaction / ownership of all facets of USD 434

USD 434 Santa Fe Trail will attempt to promote a climate of cooperation that allows patrons of the school district with a sense of satisfaction and ownership of the school system.

For numerous reasons, many patrons of the school district do not believe that their opinion matters when it came to what was occurring in the school district. For various reasons they do not believe they were welcome to attend BOE meetings, nor will their input be given credence.

Due to the beliefs of the district patrons, the BOE will attempt to address these concerns through the following action items.

Spring 2008

• The BOE and the superintendent of schools will make themselves available to visit with community groups on issues of the school district as they arise. (on going)
• The BOE will attempt to get the views of the school district community through the use of an "open forum" during BOE meetings. (on going)
• The superintendent of schools (building administrators) will write a monthly news article to be sent to the county paper and posted on the district web site. The information to be provided will cover district and school activities and issues facing the district and buildings. (superintendent)
• An evaluation of "Trail Talk" will be made as to its effectiveness. Recommendations for changes will be made to the BOE for its consideration. (building site councils, building administration, superintendent)

Summer 2008

• The BOE will address the staff in a manner that begins to build on a relationship as a school district and not as individual schools. (superintendent, BOE)
• Determine ways to promote district pride. (students, building site councils, building administration, superintendent)

Maintain and improve student test scores

The BOE will strive to provide the resources to maintain and improve performance of the students of USD 434 Santa Fe Trail.

USD 434 Santa Fe Trail has made exceptional progress in the area of student test scores. During the 2006-2007 school year, the students of Santa Fe Trail received an all time high number of "Standards of Excellence" on the Kansas State Assessments, while the high school scored an all time high on the ACT test. Even though the state assessments and the ACT test taken at the high school are not the only venues of student success, they are the items that are reviewed and ultimately sanction buildings academically.

To continue the district's past academic success, it must continue to focus on the educational future of the school district through the implementation of programs that help low performing students or provide assistance to students needing some additional support when it comes to their academic endeavors. Many of these services have been provided through the district's 21st Century Grant (FAST LANE) and will no longer be available since the grant is scheduled to run out after the 2008-2009 school year.

To address maintaining and improving student test scores the district will attempt to maintain and/or provide the following services:

• Maintain reasonable class size with consideration given to students with disabilities in determining class size. Currently K-3 20 students per class maximum, 4-6 22 students per class maximum.
• Continue district curriculum/test coordinator position to facilitate district curriculum planning, test administration, and assessment reporting.
• Maintain Title I and At-Risk reading programs
• Maintain and increase, when necessary, paraprofessional support which is needed to address student academic accommodations and tutoring.
• Continue curriculum and curriculum rotation plan to maintain updated resources and curriculum which aligns to state standards.
• Maintain an academic after school program in each elementary attendance center to focus on tutoring students not meeting standards.
• Maintain the high school credit recovery program and support alternative educational practices.
• Provide professional development on state tested indicators.
• Investigate what similar schools are doing and resources being used in meeting state standards.
• Explore the addition of Title I and At-Risk Math programs
• Provide a summer school program for those students who do not meet standards.
• Explore the implementation of a 4-year old at-risk program.

Addressing Declining Student Enrollment

The BOE will address budgetary constraints caused by declining student enrollment in an open and proactive manner.

Due to a myriad of factors, the largest being declining student enrollment, the board of education is faced with making changes in the way the district provides services for students. These changes will include current staffing of the school district and possible consideration of building configurations in the future.

The issue of continued declining enrollment will be a factor for USD 434 Santa Fe Trail for some time to come. The average class size for K-3 is 75.5 students, grades 4-8 90 students and grades 9-12 97.5 students. Using the averages, we will have an estimated 22 fewer students for the 2008-2009 school year and this will be a continued trend, unless something unforeseen happens with early elementary enrollment. The continuation of declining student enrollment will average approximately $120,000 of lost revenue yearly that will have to be made up with increased state aid or additional reductions in district services or addressed through school configurations.

To address the forecast of continued student decline and prior year's student decline, the board of education has identified the following areas for possible reductions for the 2008-2009 school year. The board of education has further identified future items it will consider should the forecast of declining student enrollment continue.

Items to be considered for reduction 2008-2009

Item to be considered	Estimated Savings	Total
Maintenance Director	35,000	35,000
Assistant Superintendent	40,000	75,000
Counselor Support	35,000	110,000
Substitute Calling Position	6,000	116,000
2 Elementary Positions 20/22 Split	70,000	186,000
Extra Duty Days	15,000	201,000
PE Support	35,000	236,000
District Activity Director	45,000	281,000
Summer Painting	6,000	287,000
JH Drill Team Sponsors	4,000	291,000
Reduce 1 HS Staff Position	35,000	326,000

Items To Be Considered For Reduction 2009-2010

Items Not Addressed From 2008-2009 Considerations

Merge All Jr. High Schools to One Location (8-11 staff)	35,000-140,000
Merge All JH Activities	32,000
Transfer SAC Jr. High to CAC	77,000
SAC Activities to CAC	26,000
1 HS Staff Position	35,000
Building Secretarial Support (Ofc Assit)	16,000
Food Service Director	34,000
Para Support	10,000
Nursing Support	10,000
OAC Reading Program	35,000
HS Odyssey of the Mind	1,000
JH Coaching/Sponsor Support	(No Estimate)
HS Coaching/Sponsor Support	(No Estimate)
Building Secretarial Support	18,000
Field Trip Needs Elementary/High School	(No Estimate)
Cook	10,000
National Support of District Activities	5,000
DAC Secretary Salary (Avg. 31,570)	25,000
Reduce 1 Additional HS Staff Position	35,000
Vocational Transportation	25,000
Positions that Open Through Attrition

Contracts To Be Reviewed As They Expire

A&H	12,000
Mowing (Cont Exp 12.31.08)	27,000
District Uniforms - (2nd yr of 3 yr contract)	4,000
Any Other Contract

Review junior high configuration

The BOE will review the advantages/disadvantages of the current junior high school configuration in an attempt to provide students with an optimal education experience.

Currently, the district operates three junior high settings. The Overbrook Junior High (grades 7-8) has 66 students (07) and operates with four (4) full-time staff members; Carbondale Junior High (grades 7-8) has 67 students (07) and operates with five (5) full-time staff members, along with additional PE support for junior high students; while Scranton Junior High (grades 6-8) has 53 students (07) and operates with four (4) full-time staff members.

When one looks at the curriculum, there is a difference in what is provided for students. Carbondale is able to provide additional support in the area of writing and PE due to having additional staff to support these activities. Overbrook cannot provide the same opportunities due to less staff, even though enrollment is essentially the same as Carbondale. Scranton, in its attempt to provide a junior high setting, is dependent on including its sixth grade students to provide the necessary teaching staff and to provide enough students to participate in activities outside of the classroom. Further, the Scranton Junior High uses a rotation of offerings to address curriculum at the junior high level. Scranton uses multi-age instruction, where students are taught based on the rotation of the curriculum, rather than what has been determined as the instruction that needs to occur at that grade level. Thus a student could be getting instruction in eighth grade science as a sixth grader and a eighth grade student could be receiving instruction on sixth grade science, depending on the rotation when they entered junior high.

When one looks at the facilities of the school district, there is ample facility space to address the reconfiguration of the district's three junior high schools, if reconfiguration is a determined need, without constructing a new junior high school. The two facilities that could host a junior high school are Carbondale and Scranton. However, both facilities have drawbacks to hosting a junior high school.

The Carbondale facility could easily handle the merging of the Scranton Junior High School's current 7th and 8th grades. This would affect 36 students, but would allow for a K-6 grade facility to remain in Scranton. There would be a financial savings with this move by merging Scranton activities with Carbondale and the reduction of potentially two Scranton junior high school teaching positions. This move would also allow sixth grade students to receive sixth grade instruction at Scranton, as well as 7th and 8th grade Scranton students to receive appropriate grade level instruction at the Carbondale Attendance Center.

The merging of the district's entire junior high school system could be accomplished at either the Carbondale or Scranton Attendance Center. Carbondale does have and will have additional space due to declining enrollment. The positives to this type of move are in the area of instruction and staffing, by way of all students receiving the same instruction in the same setting and the ability to provide the needed staff by having some way to predict the enrollment at one site. Another advantage to the Carbondale Attendance Center is no K-6 students are disturbed with the reconfiguration and it would allow the district to explore the implementation of a four-year old at-risk pre-school program.

When the Scranton Attendance Center is reviewed, it is big enough to host a district junior high in the educational area of the program. There are plenty of rooms in the building to accomplish this move. The same advantages to the district as to using the Carbondale Attendance Center are present with this location as well.

The only other option that has not been discussed is that of Overbrook hosting a junior high school. To do this at the Overbrook location, the movement of the 5th and 6th grades would have to occur. At this time, this does not appear to a viable option when compared with the use of Carbondale and Scranton attendance centers.

There are some drawbacks the BOE will need to consider when it comes to reconfiguring the district's junior high schools. Should the Scranton Attendance Center be used for a district junior high school, the K-6 students would need to be transported to another location, probably Carbondale. This move would do away with a community attendance center in Scranton.

The other drawback is the same for both locations and that is availability of practice locations for school activities. The Scranton gymnasium is not large enough to conduct 7th and 8th grade practices, nor is the Carbondale gymnasium. In order for these two facilities to be used for junior high schools, additional busing will need to occur to other gymnasiums in the district.

The issue of busing 7th and 8th grade students to a junior high school location will also be an issue to address should the district need to merge the junior high schools to either of the Carbondale or Scranton locations.

Looking at the advantages and the disadvantages, the BOE will need to realize that with continued declining enrollment in the district, there will be a time the option of reconfiguration will need to be implemented. One only needs to look at neighboring school districts to see the changes in their configurations of their schools that have had to take place due to declining enrollment.

Estimated cost saving to the school district.

Merge All Jr. High Schools to One Location (8-11 staff)	35,000-140,000
Merge All JH Activities	32,000
SAC Activities to CAC	26,000
Transfer SAC Jr. High to CAC	77,000

Review the configuration of the district's junior high schools on a yearly basis.

(building site councils, building administration, superintendent, BOE)