In a letter to School Board members in anticipation of the evaluation session, Hatrick looked back at the 2008-2009 school year. With the last day of school soon approaching, he wrote, “Looking at the academic year that will soon end, one can find many examples of opportunities realized and some lost.”
Hatrick recalled two major issues confronting the School Board, school system, the Board of Supervisors and county residents. “This has been a year focused on budget and boundaries as never before. The issues we face in determining school boundaries are likely to be compounded by a lack of resources to build new schools.
“At your direction, we are looking again at alternatives available to new construction such as additions and trailers. I expect that you will continue to struggle with capital needs for some time to come, but I know that you are committed, as are staff, to finding building solutions to our space needs in coming years.
“This area will probably be one of the most important for cooperation to be expanded with the Board of Supervisors as they set limits on capital construction and you struggle to meet the space needs of our students,” Hatrick wrote.
While the School Board’s superintendent’s evaluation meeting is closed, some documents prepared for the meeting were made available. Hatrick is slated to be judged based on six performance standards with a grading scale of 5 – Excels, 4- Good, 3 – Average and 0- Poor. The evaluation form also provides space for “Board member comments.”
In addition to the letter, School Board members received copies of a 104-page “2008-2009 Status Report on the School Board’s Goals,” with statements of goals for various school system departments, the strategies, activities and programs implemented, resources deployed, indicators of success or effectiveness and plans for FY09 and beyond and numerous accompanying graphs, numbers and charts.
The Six Performance Standards as outlined in the superintendent’s evaluation are:
Standard I – Personal Qualities
Standard II – Administration and Management
Standard III – Relationship with Staff
Standard IV – Relationship with Board
Standard V – Relationship with the Community
Standard VI –Educational Leadership.
Dr. Ed Hatrick has served as superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) for 18 years, in a career that has spanned 42 years–all with LCPS.
Hatrick, a product of the LCPS system, graduated from Loudoun County High School in 1963 and returned to Loudoun in 1967 as a classroom teacher. He was one of the original members of the Broad Run High School faculty when the Ashburn high school opened in 1969, went on to serve as BRHS assistant principal.
Hatrick served as assistant superintendent for planning and pupil services (1987-91); director of instruction (1983-87); foreign language supervisor (1983-87); guidance supervisor (1984-88); director of special education (1978-83); principal of Loudoun County High School (1975-78); assistant principal of Broad Run High School (1970-75); chair of the English Department at Broad Run (1969-70); and an English teacher at Loudoun County High School.
Hatrick served as president of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents and the Washington Area Superintendents' Study Council. Hatrick received his doctorate and master's degrees in education from Virginia Tech, and his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Richmond.
Hatrick was recently elected President of the American Association of Administrators.
Hatrick also commended the school board writing in the June 3 letter “…and we are not prone to jump on every bandwagon passing through town. The education of our young people is too important to be left to chance.”
Information and copies of Hatrick’s letter, the Superintendent’s Evaluation Form and the 2008-2009 Status Report on the School Board goals are available on the LCPS website www.loudoun.k12.va.us BoardDocs – School Board information, June 11 meeting.
Here's a very interesting article from the New York Times about how an Arizona town changed the climate on the school bus by adding wifi. I thought you may find it interesting:
Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html
I'll be glad to buy the router for my son's bus.
Rob Noyes