When Susan Poole, KMS Principal, began hearing rumblings in the community about issues at her school she wisely decided that the best approach would be to invite people to the table to share their concerns. 

A community forum was scheduled and conducted on Nov. 26 for this purpose. About 40-50 parents and staff members attended. 

Mrs. Poole’s goal was to provide data and information about the school and district so that everyone who attended would have mutual understanding and knowledge about the school.

It is sometimes difficult to simply listen and not immediately jump to providing information or possible solutions before fully understanding the perceptions and perspectives that individuals bring forward. 

Those parents who chose to attend the meeting and voice their concerns did have an opportunity to be listened to. 

During the forum, school and district staff members worked to capture the major themes of the discussion and are now examining how to respond to each one of them. 

All of the issues raised need careful examination to better define the nature of the concerns and determine next steps. 

Some of these themes include a perceived change in teacher expectations for students, a concern about vocabulary and writing instruction, issues related to how teachers were selected to teach the newly implemented Kyrene Preparatory Program at the school, and anxiety about whether students would be adequately prepared for high school. 

KMS will share each specific theme and next steps with those individuals who attended by mailing a written communication to all who attended the forum.

This will also be made available to anyone who is interested.  In addition, KMS will create informational school newsletter articles on related topics for all KMS families whether they attended the forum or not.

One of the parents summed it up the best by saying he hoped what would come out of the forum would be a collaborative effort among parents, teachers, administrators and students to support the work of KMS.

We are committed to that effort and will keep doing everything we possibly can to ensure that each student at KMS continues to have a high-quality education.