Dear Community Members,

As most have heard by now, on Tuesday, October 1st, the Washington Central Unified Union School District's Board decided that the configuration proposal would not move forward. We will continue to work on a path forward towards our strategic plan action steps to propose a financially sustainable configuration that supports the curriculum and culture goals, while continuing to strengthen existing connections between families, students and communities.

In this district we are fortunate that there is broad support for public education. We see that support, and our community's interest in our students' welfare, reflected in the voices of all the community members engaged on the subject of reconfiguration. We hope also that we can continue to build trust, pride, and an identity as a school district by collaborating to find other solutions.

Our next steps in considering reconfiguring our district are not clear -- we will reconvene our Configuration Study committee on October 16th at 5pm at U32 middle and High School. They will make recommendations to the full Board. Throughout this process many have voiced support for a grass-roots approach, and a collaborative approach with our community. While we have worked to engage the whole district on a solutions-focused process from the beginning, clearly, we need a new approach. This may include bringing new third-party thought partners into this conversation, but our path forward is also bound by our financial and administrative capacity to expand the scope of this work. It also is constrained by the Leadership Team and Board's other important work, and our need to focus on the budget in the coming months.

Another important opportunity is the chance to build more concrete examples of district identity. We have heard wonderful examples of the ways in which Calais and Worcester work to build community in their schools. Part of our learning as a district this year is to understand better what makes our schools such vibrant communities. We hope we can learn more about the strengths of every school, and replicate those successes across the district. Five years into this experiment of WCUUSD, we still hear some ambivalence about our district's value to its communities. But connected as we are, it seems logical that we should use the district structure to share knowledge and build on the core beliefs that we see as vital to every school in our district, and every student's experience.

It is also important to remember that we are operating with finite resources. We have protected student facing services, such as classroom instructors, subject area interventionists, behavior interventionists, counselors, and nurses but this has come at a cost and our team that manages district operations is significantly strained. This operations staff includes the Central Office along with building and grounds and elementary school administrative support staff.

We are facing a tough budget -- please pay attention and support the Board's work with creative input. As costs out of our control (particularly health insurance) continue to rise, we are asked to cut spending because it will likely contribute to higher taxes. From a district operations system that is already threadbare, this is difficult to do. We will closely examine supplies budgets, athletics budgets, our Food Service & Community Connections enterprises, and every category of expenditure where we think there might be savings. We will consider new approaches to budgeting itself, to see if a budget that centers specific instructional objectives yields savings where a resource-focused budget does not.

Please join us at our meeting on October 16th at 6:15 p.m. at U32
Here is the link to the Packet:https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1728671783/wcsu32org/ukjrbq9lysm2wloqo7lg/101624Boar[...]pdf

Here is the link to the Meeting if you would like to join remote: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84935949997?pwd=qLjf1jrrfhAuJPWhfvO0evL8A5Swmg.1#success

The Board remains proud of all we have accomplished, and continue to accomplish, as a district. We are excited that this process, as stressful though it's been for so many, may energize the hard work before us. Thank you all for being the engaged community that you are. Please endeavor to continue to engage in positive and thoughtful ways. Our schools and our students thank you for your continued support.

Your School Board

Event Info

Nov 1, 2024, 6 to 7 PM

Nov 3, 2024, 2 to 4 PM

Nov 5, 2024, 7 AM to 7 PM