Co-op plan moves forward, staff and class lists shared

As the 2012-2013 academic year quickly approaches, proposed staffing schedules and class lists show the initial plan for the upcoming academic cooperative. Slight changes continue to be made to staff schedules, since department staffing meetings with the administrative staff are ongoing.

The proposed staffing schedule became public during the second week of December, allowing the staff to have time to see and understand their new responsibilities for the upcoming year. Overall, the staff at both school districts seems satisfied with the decisions made and continues to work out any potential issues with scheduling.

“The first department meetings have been positive and based on the curriculum and needs of the students. The teachers in each department have been very helpful and understanding of each other,” said Superintendent Rob Roettger.

The teachers from both school districts met with administrative staff before the creation of the proposed staffing schedule in order to voice opinions about the area of interest and grades each educator wanted to teach.

The schedule did not bring a lot of surprise to the teachers in the district since, for the most part, all of the teachers had a fairly good idea of the topic, and place, where they would be teaching. There is an equal number of teachers currently teaching in Lind that plan to commute next year as teachers in Ritzville.

After meeting with all of the teachers, the proposed staffing schedule listed what is believed to be the best fit for each educator at the Lind and Ritzville middle school and high school.

The schedule is still undergoing minor changes, but the expected staffing for next year is as follows.

The high school instructors teaching in Ritzville during the upcoming school year are Randy Heidenreich, Kerry Murphy, Thomas Pulliam, Gregg Sampson, Jason Aldrich, Rosemarie Shultz, Allison Nichols, Kathy McAnally, Greg Whitmore, Donna Koch, Andy Williams, Guy Strot, Jennifer York, Shanon Davis, Brad Gering and Camille Nelson.

The middle school instructors teaching in Lind during the upcoming school year are Chris Johnson, Richard Taylor, Maureen Harder, Cindy Edgren, Nicholas Weishaar, Dustan Arlt, Paula Bell, Shanon Davis, Stephanie Campeau, Brad Gering and Jeff Wendt.

The only teachers commuting during the day, Gering and Davis, teach both high school and middle school courses. Gering faces one of the most drastic changes to his schedule, but Roettger commends him on his professionalism and positivity with handling the situation.

Gering and Williams plan to run the agricultural programs together, and since details still need to be worked out, the FFA chapters in both districts still face many decisions to be made. Changes such as the chapter name and deciding on a primary advisor for the cooperative FFA chapter will be decided on at a later date with the students’ input.

The public forums in both Lind and Ritzville raised questions about a shuttle for the students, aside from normal bus routes, other transportation issues and general curiosities about the cooperative. The proposed staffing schedule and class list rarely came up during the public forums.

The middle school class list expanded to include more class options and opportunities for the students. Middle school students can choose to take shop, agriculture, photography and art courses. The science exploration class creates a new learning opportunity specifically for the sixth grade.

High school students can also expect to see new classes on the schedule next year. Advanced Placement courses in English, history and Spanish top the most exciting new classes for the upcoming school year. Other new courses include art, horticulture, robotics, marketing, culinary arts and computer-aided design (CAD).

“There’s not a lot of flexibility in small schools. With the cooperative, the kids have more opportunities to take electives along with the core classes. The main change is that we will have two people teaching the same content, allowing the students to chose more electives,” said Roettger.

The staff of various departments continues to meet with administrative staff for the next few weeks, and minor changes to the staffing schedule can be expected. The staff continues to work on the little details associated with the cooperative such as graduation, mascots and ASB accounts.

Anybody with questions or comments regarding the cooperative can contact Superintendent Roettger by calling Lind High School at 677-3408 or Ritzville High School at 659-1720.

Roettger also recently started a superintendent email listserv for individuals to join.

Roettger uses this email address to discuss meetings, department changes and other aspects surrounding the cooperative with the public.

If interested in joining and receiving Roettger’s superintendent newsletter, send an email of interest to [email protected].