Hope Kiwanis Club Hears Good News Program from Dr. Jonathan Crossley of the Hope Public Schools

Hope Schools Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Crossley spoke to the Hope Kiwans Club on Tuesday (5-27).  Dr. Crossley had lots of good information for the club.

Dr. Crossley opened his talk about the categories of a school district.  He started with facilities and transportation.  Dr. Crossley noted they were renovating the Yerger gym.  The facility, which opened in 1956, did not have HVAC and had roof issues.  The gym is set to be finished by August 4th.  Dr. Crossley noted the new agri barn will be up by August 4th and there will be new fencing behind the football stadium.  New turf is going down at Hammons Stadium.  This work is expected to cost about $750,000 and it is financed by an interest-free loan from Farmers Bank & Trust.  Dr. Crossley also noted Yerger Jr. High is getting new flooring.  Also, the district just purchased land on the bypast for the long-term development of the baseball/softball/tennis complex.  Dr. Crossley credited transportation and facilities head Maurice Henry for his work on all these projects.  Henry was present as he is a Kiwanian.  Dr. Crossley noted these improvements are being undertaken without an increase in millage.

Dr. Crossley said they have “right sized” the district from a human capital standpoint to be able to give raises for classified and certified staff.  Classified staff has a 5.6% raise and the district has a new salary schedule for teachers so teachers on the “back end” will benefit just as the teachers on the “front end”, the new teachers, have benefitted from a $50,000 starting salary which came as a result of the state “LEARNS” act.  Dr. Crossley noted the $50,000 teacher costs the district about $76,000 when benefits are added.

As far as the “right sizing” the district, Dr. Crossley noted seven months ago he noted the district had 12.9 students per one certified employee.  The state average is about 14.2 students per certified employee. Dr. Crossley noted getting to that 14.2 figure allowed the district to fund these raises.  He noted the district has looked at every teacher that retired.  Dr. Crossley also talked about the “teacher residency” program with SAU.  The district has about 6 seniors at SAU who work with the district full-time as paraprofessionals and work under master teacher.  They get “on the job” training.  Dr. Crossley also noted the district will only lack 4 teachers to be fully staffed as of June 9th.  He also noted healthy attrition is between 5 and 10 % and the Hope Schools are in that range.  Dr. Crossley said there are plenty of high-quality teachers who are staying in Hope.

The district had a very clean audit recently.  Dr. Crossley said Misty Flowers said it was one of the cleanest she’d seen in thirty years.

The district gave its first $11,000 in Hope Legacy Endowment scholarships this year.  Dr. Crossley notes this will continue to grow and continue to give scholarships through the school’s foundation.

Dr. Crossley talked about a middle-school reconfiguration bringing HAPS to 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.  He also talked about the school “letter grades” awarded by the state.  He noted Clinton Primary has improved from an “F” to a “C” and is outperforming many of the area elementary schools.  He noted the high school had an “F” six years ago and has improved to a “D” and right now is less than half a point from receiving a “C” grade.  He noted part of this was the state missing some of their metrics and refusing to change the grade.  Dr. Crossley urged the Kiwanis members to pass along the good news about the Hope Public Schools and also to thank the teachers for their efforts.  He thinks these elementary improvements will move up to affect the Beryl Henry and Yerger grades in the next couple of years.  Dr. Crossley also noted Yerger will offer more high school classes next year than any other middle school in the state.  Nine high school courses will be offered to the students.  This will affect the collegiate academy in 10th grade.  Dr. Crossley noted the district received 79 applications from students going from 9th to 10th grade for the collegiate academy next year.  He noted these were not limited to just current Hope students but included students from Garrett Memorial and Spring Hill as well.  This year, the Collegiate Academy had a high of 43 students with 39 currently.  Dr. Crossley said he hopes they can work with UAHT to be able to accommodate over 50 per year.  Dr. Crossley said the district also quadrupled their numbers in students getting a skilled trade certificate this year with their high school diploma.  He also talked about “success rating indicators”.  A good number is 150 and Hope had 172.  The district is also beating the state average for English Language Learners in 10 our 12 grades.

Dr. Crossley noted the diversity of the district.  This ranges from students with parents who are professionals to a student who had her mother deported recently by ICE.  He talked about how exciting to see how these students in very diverse situations are still achieving.

Under special needs, the district has a work program for their special needs students.  About 35 of these students have jobs while they are attending schools.  This program will help those students to be ready for what comes after graduation.

Dr. Crossley encouraged the club to “invest in” these students now as they will be in the community workforce in the future.  He said he wanted the club members to be as fired up about the achievement in the Hope Public Schools as he is.