001hello my name is Chris Cooper and the new superintendent in Clearwater and I just wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself as well as our new director of teaching and learning kc piney and to talk just a little bit about our process for planning for what school is gonna look like in a few weeks so first of all about me personally the last 21 years of my career in life I've been in Abilene Kansas I serve there's an elementary principal four years and then the last seven years have been at the district office as the assistant superintendent particularly during the last seven years have also had the opportunity to work with many districts across the state as a consultant and trainer for really instruction and and what good teaching and learning looks like
002it's given me a nice perspective of districts from the size of Olathe to very small districts like Weston so very unique opportunities personally I have three boys and two girls my two oldest boys are out and in the Air Force and have also each provided us with one wonderful grandchild I have a son who will be a sophomore in college next year and then to junior girls who are will be attending Clearwater high school they're already participating in cheer and summer weights and lots of teenage activities in the area I would say we've had a very warm welcome to town and really appreciate all of the contacts that that we've already made my wife is also an education she taught for many years of everything from kindergarten to freshman English the last two years she
003served as a Kansas multi-tiered system of support and alignment reading trainer so she travels the state and helps school structure for reading instruction and intervention to make sure every kids reaching those benchmarks like I said I also want to introduce you to our new director of teaching and learning Kacie piney so I'm gonna kick it over to KC hello I am Kacie piney and like Chris said I am the new director of teaching and learning I am very excited to be joining the u.s. t26 for staff and have already received such a warm welcome so thank you everyone just a little bit about me I am entering my 16th year in education and the past five years I've spent traveling the state as an MT SS which stands for multi-tiered system of supports trainer and
004I've worked alongside over 50 districts in Kansas and improving outcomes for students my past experiences are in special education elementary education instructional coaching and district leadership as well I am also married to my awesome husband Heath who is the executive director of student support services for Wichita Public Schools I have three boys Abram who is going to be in seventh grade Gideon who is going to be in sixth grade and Roman who is going to be in fourth grade as a family we love sports and being active we enjoy going to the movies I'm spending time with our extended family and really enjoy traveling which unfortunately hasn't happened as much as we want it to lately I also wanted to share that I grew up in a small town in southeast Kansas of about 1,200
005people and we were the Indians I feel like I have been brought full circle in my life and I am so thrilled to be an Indian again so if you see me out and about in Clearwater please come introduce yourself if you'd like to email me you can contact me at sea piney at USD 2/6 Borg and look forward to meeting everyone take care thanks Casey I'm excited to have Casey on board and she's a wealth of knowledge about teaching and learning and she's gonna do great things for the community and schools of Clearwater as I mentioned want to talk to you just a little bit about our planning process getting ready for school this fall obviously it's different than we've ever done before none of us have been here before and I would say
006none of us have all the answers we actually have more questions and answers so on July 9th this Thursday the Kansas State Department of Education is scheduled to release guidance to superintendent attendance this will be a draft document of their guidance about how we can have school everything from how we use the buses how we do launch hallways instruction just lots of guidance I've heard it's up to 900 pages long now so we will dig through that as an administrative team and then also as a planning team as we move forward the following week July 16th that documents scheduled to be approved and released to the public so we want to get that out to everybody as soon as possible and we don't expect you to go through all 900 pages but we want it
007to be available to anyone who might like to look at it the evening of the 16th our navigating change planning team for clear water will start meeting virtually on site small groups lots of different ways but and spend a couple weeks really digging into that guidance as well as the guidance from Sedgwick County Health Department who I will also be meeting with and our goal during those 2 weeks is to figure out what fits best for clear water how can we have school in the most normal way possible while keeping everybody safe our top priority is the overall health and well-being of our students staff and community but we also have a dedication to instruction and academic achievement so we are going to work to balance both of those things as we go the goal
008is that by August 4th that plan will be released to the community at that time we'll ask parents to complete a second survey I should have mentioned the first survey which will go out July 10th we need some information parents just about what you're thinking so we can plan more appropriately to be ready in August as I mentioned August 4th the plan will go out we'll also at that time release another survey that will ask for more detailed information from parents once you've had an opportunity to review the plan about what school is going to look like in Clearwater starting August 18th we hope then then we want to know what you're thinking again so we can plan appropriately for that the one thing we do know as I mentioned we don't have all the
009answers and once the other thing we know is when we do get a plan it will likely change so appreciate your patience your grace and understanding as we move forward this through this I do also welcome your your comments phone calls we want to make sure that your voice is heard and your concerns are addressed and these are challenging times ahead but I do believe that we will come together and be stronger because of it we're going to do great things for the kids of this school district and this community and and that's our goal and if we work together I know we can achieve great things I look forward to meeting each of you and hopefully someday shaking hands and sitting around in the group and and can't wait to to go watch a
010sporting event and to see the community come together again so with that I'm going to sign off for today I hope to do more of these video updates my name is Chris Cooper my email is CC oper at USD 264 org reach out anytime I look forward to having conversations with you you