Beliefs

    We Believe,

o         All children have the right to be cherished, encouraged, protected and challenged.

o         In the power of community in our lives.

o         The higher the expectation, the greater the effort, the more substantial the yield.

o         Each person has the right to a safe and secure environment.

o         We never stop learning.

o         Each person is accountable for his/her responsibilities and actions.

Mission

The educational mission of the Marion/Florence Community is to excite and empower life-long learners to be responsible, successful members in the home, workplace and society by providing each individual an encouraging, challenging and progressive environment that uses all the resources of the ever-changing community.

Objectives 

o         Benchmarks will be established for third grade and sixth grade requiring every student to be on grade level in math and reading before progressing to the next level.  The process will begin with the class entering kindergarten in 1999.

o         100% of our students will graduate or complete the GED within 3 years of their graduating class.

o         All state assessment scores will continue to improve until the Standard of Excellence is met.

o         All students will meet or exceed state average attendance requirements.

Parameters

o         All decisions will be made based on what is best for students.

o         We will reward and celebrate risk-taking, creative and innovative people.

o         We will not tolerate discrimination or disrespect of person or property.

o         Pre K-12 students are our first priority.

o         We will hire the best people available who also have a commitment to the community.

o         We will demand excellence from district employees.

o         We will not allow a program to continue that does not fulfill the intent of the mission.

o         We will never give up on a child nor stop looking for each child’s niche.

o         We will not tolerate action/behavior not in the best interest of students.

Strategies

o         We will do what is necessary to ensure that all children read and demonstrate math skills at grade level before leaving the third grade.

o         We will ensure full involvement of our school district community in providing the necessary resources and facilities to accomplish our mission and objectives.

o         We will provide state-of-the-art technology, training in the use of technology and staffing at appropriate levels.

o         We will develop a curriculum program and an assessment system which will meet the goals of our mission and objectives.

o         We will develop and maintain a mutually supportive partnership between school, family and community.

o         We will form partnerships with local agencies for the purpose of dealing with substance abuse.

o         We will promote systematic, on-going, positive public relations.