Hello everyone. Well, we are nearing spring and it is time to share some great things that have been happening in our TCU District. I cannot believe how fast the year has gone by and how close we are to the end of the school year. When time seems to go by so fast, we begin to think that things are going really well. I can honestly say that your TCU staff and students have done a tremendous job up to this point in the year. We settled in past the pandemic times and our students have really embraced learning. This support for knowledge will bring our students and staff to feel good about what they are doing.
We have made a push to go back to the basics of teaching and we are really looking at the students’ needs based on data. Our new Director of Teaching and Learning, David Bernard, has a lot of experience when pushing past all of the initiative’s teachers have been given over the years and has challenged staff with simplifying things. Teachers are using a first five and last five model of teaching where students are engaged from the moment they walk into the room until they leave the room. Teachers will then have the control to teach to standards between these two times. We have also moved to a professional development mindset of teachers using a playbook to look at productive practice. This creates more interaction amongst our teachers and better staff learning time that prepares them for superior lessons.
Now, let’s move onto some other items. We have to congratulate all of our students, coaches, and leaders that have made it to state in robotics, wrestling, business professionals of America and weight lifters. To add to this, we had numerous students go to Florida on a music trip. Knowledge Bowl is moving onto Regionals, third place in the Regional Spelling Bee, FFA competitions, etc. We have had concerts, a parade, kindergarten roundups, field trips, guest speakers and a whole lot more. I know I will forget something, but our Titans are doing some great things. We have to keep encouraging all of our students to join in on these experiences and to create those encounters they may not realize are there for them. This culture of participation and your encouragement can push TCU to great heights.
Our enrollment continues to be consistent and our district finances are very stable to this point. This has allowed us to hire a Communications and Marketing Director. We are pushing hard to improve upon our middle school experience and how we can link this to the high school. We are also looking at high school programming and how to get our students experiences towards licensures, internships, apprenticeships, and preparation for college. We are also moving to work with our local businesses to build better partnerships for our students’ future. At the same time helping our businesses with future employees.
All of this push-ahead-thinking takes a lot of time and work from a lot of people and we will continue to count on them and appreciate them. In order to do all of this, I will continue to keep up with safety plans in our district and provide a safe place to learn.
Finally, thank you to those that graciously spent numerous hours to go and look at all of our facilities and have conversations on what this group of people really feels on what we may need. They also had the opportunity to visit Jordan Middle School just to see how new concepts are being utilized for classroom spaces. Their time and insight will be fully taken into consideration to help TCU grow.
There is always so much to talk about and as you may know I could talk for hours about our great TCU community. Thank you for your support for our TCU District. We cannot do what we do without all of your help. If you ever need anything or have any questions please reach out to us. We are here for you and we want you to help us be the best district. Thank you again.
Kevin Babcock, Tri-City United Schools Superintendent.
