Editors Note: The headline of this article was changed to reflect more accurate and clear information.
Dr. Chuck Reynolds is the Director of Public Education and the CEO of Muncie Community Schools. He is writing as a guest for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the paper.
Dear Muncie,
As my first year of leading Muncie Community Schools (MCS) nears completion, it’s rewarding to say that we continue to make great strides as a school district. This short list of recent accomplishments helps illustrate that:
• Enrollment remains stable
• Our preschool program continues to grow
• The graduation rate at Muncie Central continues to rise
• Five of our six elementary schools show improvement in iREAD3 scores, most of them by a significant amount
• We enjoy higher-than-average teacher retention rates
• Our balance sheet looks good, even after millions of dollars in facility improvements and staff raises
All these achievements are the result of many people’s efforts over the last several years. I can’t say enough about our board of trustees, Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns, BSU faculty and staff, the city of Muncie, and many community groups and organizations that continue to support what we’re doing at MCS.
By sharing their time, resources and expertise, all these stakeholders help us provide students with a high-quality educational experience. My deepest thanks to everyone involved! Of all the recent accomplishments, the growth of our preschool program may be the most exciting. We are now approaching 300 preschool students at our six locations around town, which is a huge increase from the 50 students enrolled just six years ago.
That means hundreds of young children are now better prepared for kindergarten, which sets the tone for their entire K-12 education. Once those preschoolers reach kindergarten, they are now taught to read with a curriculum based on the Science of Reading, the teaching method that combines five different literary elements to produce better readers and writers.
MCS was one of the first districts in Indiana to move to this now-mandated concept, and we are already beginning to see the benefits. Across the district, our iREAD3 passing rates have increased by an average of 14 percent! While the new reading curriculum may be the biggest contributor to that improvement, it’s not the only factor. More and more of our highly skilled and dedicated teachers are staying in our district year after year.
That continuity helps staff remain cohesive and collaborative. In addition, we are now in our fourth year of implementing the City Connects program that uses master's-trained social workers, school counselors, and mental health professionals to identify the strengths and needs of each individual student.
Those staff members, called family navigators, then work with school staff and outside agencies to support those students and their families. We have worked hard to improve our family engagement across the district, providing more events, gatherings and messaging for everything going on in our schools.
We know that when families are more involved with student activities, the students are more motivated to do their best work. Participation in our athletics, clubs and performing arts programs is increasing, which is another huge indicator of student success. Recent additions of e-Sports teams and Robotics clubs have not only made students more excited about school, but they have become very competitive on a statewide level very quickly, which has drawn more students to them.
As we look forward, we are preparing to initiate our new five-year strategic plan that will guide us through the challenges that lie ahead. We are by no means satisfied with where we are, but we are definitely confident that we’re moving in the right direction, and we’re hopeful the Muncie community will continue to stay involved.
For anyone interested in playing a more active role in our schools, we invite you to volunteer or apply for one of our part-time or full-time openings. You can do that on our website. Again, it’s been a wonderful first year for me as CEO after many years in other roles. I’m excited about what lies ahead and look forward to helping more students succeed.
Sincerely,
Dr. Chuck Reynolds, Director of Public Education and CEO of Muncie Community Schools
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