Dear Friends of Dansville Schools,
Superintendent Amy Hodgson
It has been a great year to be an Aggie as we approach the midway point of the 2012-13 school year. Thanks to the generosity of the Dansville community as well as the willingness of the high school staff to rethink how we deliver instruction, our high school has blazed a trail by putting iPads in the hands of every student. In addition to this, we are honored to have partnered with a state-wide professional development organization called MIEM to bring educators from all over the state as well as representatives from the Michigan Department of Education to Dansville Schools for two separate day-long educator site visits to share about our journey as it relates to standards-based grading. This is another example teachers throughout the district being willing to challenge themselves and be trend-setters in the field of education.
Our school continues to focus on improving both literacy and math proficiency K-12. Our teachers work tirelessly and to monitor, intervene and foster growth in all of our students in an effort to prepare them for post-secondary schooling and future careers.
In addition to this, we continue to partner with our families to help our students grow in the characteristics that make Dansville so special – caring about each other and creating a positive environment for learning. We continue to hand out “Aggie Bucks” for great student choices every day.
The final area of focus is to continue to reach out and foster positive relationships with our families and the community. Our students benefit tremendously from living in Dansville because of the support and encouragement they receive and the way everyone looks out for everyone else. I’ll never forget how amazing it was at the first football playoff game this fall to see the whole town showing their support for our kids (we outnumbered the home town fans!)
It is the relationships we have here in Dansville that helps us ensure a safe school for our students and staff. We receive a steady stream of communication here when people get worried about each other. As we have reviewed the security measures we have in place, we kept coming back to the importance of these relationships and the caring community we have here. Thank you for those of you who call when you are concerned or whenever you notice something that just doesn’t seem quite right. We count on you.
In addition to your help and communication, please know that we have updated security procedures and crisis plans in place. In reviewing these procedures over the last few weeks, we have increased communication with substitute teachers regarding our lock-down procedures and reminded the staff about keeping their doors locked. We have ordered a new PA system for the HS because of the age and lack of reliability of the current system. We added a feature that will allow us to access the PA from any phone in the building. We have added security cameras to the middle and high school over the past year and recently purchased cameras for the elementary as well. The cameras have allowed us to better monitor our entrances.
Please know that we have lock-down buttons in each office that when pushed, immediately locks down that building. Whenever one building goes into lock-down, we lock down the entire district. We practice lock down and emergency drills every year and have had them reviewed by both local and county authorities.
We have received very positive feedback from the Ingham County Sheriff’s office as it relates to our security procedures, but as you can see we are always looking for ways to make our school even safer for our students and staff.
If you ever want to provide feedback, share your thoughts or your ideas about anything related to Dansville Schools, please don’t hesitate to call or email me. We are all here to serve our students and this community.
Sincerely,
Amy Hodgson,
Superintendent of Dansville Schools