A Message from Dr. Smith
December 2, 2011
Dear Community Members,
In Hopewell Valley, we have been committed over the years to providing our students with exceptional opportunities to prepare them for life and work in the 21st century. The achievements of our district are due to several factors, including an actively involved parent community, excellent staff, and students who are exposed to a rigorous and demanding curriculum, bolstered by co-curricular activities and athletics. Many of you have shared that this commitment to excellence is the reason you purchased a home in the Valley. Ensuring that this continues is a responsibility that we do not take lightly. Continual improvement remains our constant focus; we cannot rest on our past accomplishments.
Over the past two years, we have worked to improve our already strong district by developing new schedules on the secondary and elementary levels. We have implemented data-driven decision-making with programs like Performance Matters to track and compare student test scores, and incorporated an online curriculum tool, Curriculum Framer, to ensure that students in all of our schools are exposed to the same curricula. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to improve the education of our students, so that they are competitive with the very best students in the state and nation.
It is important to note that over the same two years, we have reduced our total budget by 1.3% in 2010 and 1.9% in 2011. In real numbers, we are currently spending $2,348,758 less to educate our students than we did in 2009, despite increased salary, benefits, energy and supply costs.
As we begin this year's budget process, our goal is to continue on our path of improvement by maintaining reasonable class sizes and all current programs and offerings. Over the next several months, there will be many conversations regarding the school budget and our efforts to deliver one that provides the excellent education that you expect and our students deserve, while being respectful of the impact on local property taxes.
I encourage you to participate in these conversations and share your opinions regarding the programs and services you value. In January, the Board of Education will begin public budget discussions on the 2012-13 budget to be voted on in April, 2012. Board meeting dates are listed on our website. As I have done in the past, I will be holding coffee klatches to meet with members of our community, please check our website for dates. In addition, I continue to host an open-phone hour each morning from 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. to discuss any topic.
Please become part of this process so that we many continue to provide our community with a school district and budget that reflect our values.
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Smith
Superintendent of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District