Following a meeting of the Dexter Board of Education Tuesday night, Supt. Dr. Tom Sharp announced a plan to split the curriculum position, formerly held by Dr. Kim Flowers who recently announced an early retirement date of Feb. 23, into two part-time positions, one elementary and one secondary. Sharp said he will be assigning existing staff members Felicia Powers and Alana Dowdy to teach half-time and then assume afternoon curriculum duties beginning with the 2013 -2014 school year. However, in addition to their current teaching duties, they will begin immediately spearheading strategic planning and attend workshops and will continue doing so throughout the summer months.
Powers, who is currently a reading specialist at Southwest Elementary, and Dowdy, who is a history instructor at the high school level, will both be stationed in the Central Administration office and work throughout the district to conduct grade level and/or subject level curriculum and technological workshops.
"Both individuals bring enthusiasm and effectiveness to their respective positions as well as core curricular knowledge and technological proficiency," said Sharp on Wednesday. "Their research work will start immediately though their teaching schedule will not be altered until next August."
Both Powers and Dowdy will receive their assignments and evaluations from the superintendent or the assistant superintendent.
"These personnel assignments create an exceptional opportunity for the staff to become aware of academic expectations, to adopt strategic scope and sequence timelines, to teach at the correct level of difficulty and at all depths of knowledge, to check for understanding and then use the results to adjust instruction through differentiated methodologies, to develop authentic instruments to measure student learning and produce cross-disciplinary, integrated writings which demonstrate higher levels of cognitive thought and application, and to analyze testing data to guide pacing and additional instruction needs," Sharp explained.
Sharp will assist all buildings in fully utilizing the curricular services as outlined. This commitment to curriculum will, he stressed, involve greater demands upon the academic leadership skills of the building principals who will be expected to attend and participate in upcoming workshops to better grasp both the technological demands and intellectual implications of concerted efforts to improve student understanding and performance.
Staff members were directed to submit questions about or criticism of this district-wide approach to Sharp's office. Of that effort, Sharp stated, "The importance of this commitment to the students and staff is self-evident; the goal itself is student self-actualization which is the higher level of student achievement."