By Greg Halbleib
The leader of Unit 5 has a message for staff during the state budget stalemate–keep doing a great job and he’ll deal with state funding.
Dr. Mark Daniel tells WJBC’s Scott Laughlin that Unit 5 has continued to excel despite not knowing what to expect from Springfield.
“Let me worry about what’s happening in Springfield,” Daniel said when referring to his message to Unit 5 staff, “and you continue to excel in what you do in your delivery of education.”
One cost-saving measure has been the shifting of school day schedules. Daniel says earlier start times for elementary classes this fall should not require extremely early bus times. The superintendent says the district struck a balance when setting the new first bell at elementary schools.
“Our goal is to have a bus picking up students no earlier than 7:00, because elementary students will start at 7:45,” Daniel said. “Originally, we were looking at 7:30 but we continued to move that to a later time frame.”
Daniel says he won’t know the effectiveness of the new times until they’re in effect for the entire school year.
The superintendent also says Unit 5 is doing a great job in STEM classes, or science, technology, engineering and math, Unit 5 Superintendent Mark Daniel says those topics can interact with the entire curriculum.
“I like to say STEAM,” said Daniel, “because STEM to me is bringing science, technology, engineering and math, but what about the arts?”
Greg Halbleib can be reached at greg@wjbc.com.
