Francis HowellMiddle School

The Francis Howell School District (FHSD) is a busy place year-round, and not just during the school year. There are more than 2,000 employees in the District, and almost 20 percent of them work a 12-month schedule. “The District does not shut down over the summer,” said FHSD Superintendent Dr. Mary Hendricks-Harris, “quite the contrary. Educating 18,000 students is a year-round, full-time job. In addition to preparing the high quality education our students deserve for 2017-18, we have also started working on our next five-year strategic plan, and our community will have the opportunity to be part of that process this fall.” 

Summer provides the opportunity to analyze end-of-year data, prepare for the new school year, and do all of the facilities work that can’t be done when students are in school. Here is just a small sample of all of the many things that are happening in FHSD during the summer “break” –

• Implementing a summer school program and camps for more than 2,800 students, including transportation, food service, and technology
• Hiring new staff, including 95 teachers, 100 substitute teachers, and new support staff
• Processing 85 teacher retirees/resignations
• New employee meetings/orientations
• Training 590 returning substitute teachers
• Preparing technology for the first day of school, including 2,800 Chromebooks and 950 iPads for schools and classrooms, reimaging and upgrading hundreds of existing devices, and upgrading the FHSD fiber network
• Completing end-of-year reports (federal programs, school achievement, attendance and discipline data, etc.)
• Working to ensure all budgets are available for staff on July 1
• Preparing for audit of FY17 fiscal year
• Creating teacher resources for 2017-18
• Grant writing to support programs and events
• Developing 2017-18 School Improvement Plans at every building
• Summer workshops for many groups, including administrators, Board of Education members, and building administration teams
• Planning five days of training and orientation for new teachers
• Preparing backpacks for homeless students
• Facilities work, including roofing work, track resurfacing, flooring, and asphalt repairs

Even though FHSD teachers are not in their classrooms, they are still working on professional development, lesson planning, research, and preparing for the start of the 2017-18 school year. Approximately 500 FHSD teachers are participating in professional development and collaboration time over the summer, including work in:

• Implementing new Board of Education approved curricula
• Interventions for struggling learners in Language Arts and Math
• Training in methods to work with students in the Sanctuary Model, an approach to improving school environments and student behavior
• Middle school English Language Arts workshop model