West Central Area Schools Innitiatives

West Central Area Schools –Engaged and Innovative
Posted on 10/08/2018
2018 Challenge, Learn, Succeed Logo

West Central Area Schools is investing time, energy and money on important initiatives that center on students, families, and staff and follow its mission statement.  The tagline, ‘Challenge, Learn, Succeed” is meant to sum up what the strategic planning process deems as their mission.

WCA aims to, “Challenge and support our students, staff, and families in each person’s growth as an engaged learner and successful citizen of our community.”

What are some of the examples that exemplify these goals you may ask?

Bringing College and Life Skills into our Schools.

WCA students are so lucky to have a school board, staff and curriculum that supports their needs.  Like life, our schools are filled with students with varied talents and needs. It is the goal of the administration and school board to provide learning opportunities for as many of these talents and needs as they can.  They offer a REACH program to students in grades 7-12 that works on forming and strengthening Relationships, provides Educational support, being Accountable, builds Character and values Hard work. The agriculture and health occupations classes teach real-life skills that lead to certifications students can use to be employable in these fields.  They are offering more and more College in our Schools classes, many taught by WCA’s own staff, that lead to college credit while still in high school and are always seeking to incorporate more.

Implementing PBIS, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports in all Three Buildings

According to the PBIS website (pbis.org), PBIS supports schools in developing “a multi-tiered approach to social, emotional, and behavior support.”  By adopting PBIS, the district hopes to continuously improve our schools’ climate and student successes by creating a learning environment where all feel supported and ready to learn.  A common, positive language of expectations that reaches across the school and recognizes students for the good things they do leads to pride and ownership in a school system that supports them.

Hosting Monthly Professional Learning Communities for our Staff

The administration and school board have shown the WCA staff that they believe in them and in the importance of continued professional development by scheduling monthly PLCs.  Today’s teachers and paraprofessionals wear many hats and serve in many capacities. By allowing and planning for frequent learning opportunities in these professional learning communities, staff is taught the best practices in all that they do, the needs of students and those that work with them are met, confidence is gained and authentic, substantial learning takes place.  

Revitalizing and Strengthening the Public Engagement Committee

The school board is in the process of reviewing each of its sub-committees with the focus being on assuring that each committee has worth to its community members and benefits staff and students on the road to learning.  Communication is key; a concentrated effort is being made to share the great things that happen at West Central Area Schools. Mr. Kraig Hunter and his WCA webpage students have spent many hours in September updating and streamlining the school’s current webpage.  The West Central Area Schools Facebook page has been “born” and is spreading the word through picture and text of the happenings at WCA. Staff and students have been busy submitting articles and pictures to the Grant County Herald so community members can receive weekly updates of class experiences, field trips and the learning that takes place every day in our building.

West Central Area Schools is working to assure that everyone involved is challenged, learning and will succeed and believe that the investment made is worth it.