Superintendent's School Goals

   When I started my high school coaching career in 1980, the Duncan H.S. football program had already been very successful - winning state titles in 1977 and 1978, and boasting of many all-state players. Head Coach Ray Hall, hired in 1976, had won back-to-back Titles at Broken Bow in 1972 and 1973. Ray Hall left Duncan in 1979 after a down year. During his time at both schools, however, Coach Hall always had three team goals at the beginning of each season - 1) Win the first game, 2) Win District, and 3) Win State.
   When Ray Hall left Duncan, his top assistant Charley Lynch became the new head coach, beginning in 1980. Coach Lynch then hired three new assistant coaches, including me, to complete his staff. Coach Lynch kept the same three team goals Hall had used, as he believed they contributed to team success. Duncan started slowly, ending its season in 1980 with 9 wins and 4 losses, losing in the state semi-finals to Mustang. They built up steam during the next couple of years before winning state titles in 1983 and 1984, and winning 27 straight games at one point which was a class 4A record at the time. Duncan went on to appear in three more title games in 1987, 1992, and 1994. At least part of their success was attributable to having team goals. The secret is to have very few, attainable goals, which are easily measured.

   My "education goals", as superintendent of Blanchard Public Schools, are few, easily measured, and certainly attainable, for teachers and staff. I believe staff must be internally motivated to achieve goals, and the motivation usually comes from competition, just as it is in athletics. So, I'll compare student test scores at Blanchard to two other similar schools, in order to set the goals.
Goal one: Improve student test scores
Blanchard Elementary
Reading Index 77%  School B 85% School C 81%     Goal - 81%
Math Index 77% School B 83% School C 75%           Goal - 80%
Science Index 62% School B*** School C 69%         Goal - 66%
S. Studies Index 83% School B*** School C 75%      Goal - 85%
Blanchard Intermediate (3-5) - Subject goals are the same as the elementary.
Blanchard Middle School
Reading Index 90% School B 83% School C 91%      Goal 92%
Math Index 84% School B 83% School C 86%           Goal 86%
Science Index 78% School B 81% School C 72%       Goal 81%
S. Studies Index 78% School B 75% School C 74%    Goal 80%
Blanchard High School
English Index 88% School B 88% School C 92%        Goal 90%
Algebra Index 80% School B 87% School C 93%        Goal 85%
Biology Index 54% School B 45% School C 70%        Goal 70%
US History Index 70% School B 79% School C 81%   Goal 79%
Graduation Rate 83% School B 88% School C 93%     Goal 88%

Goal two: Improve and add student facilities

Goal three: Make hiring recommendations of only top teachers (in order to achieve goal one)

Goal four: Increase student funding from the current $3042 per student to $3291.30 by 2020.