Week 32: From Spring Effort to Summer Growth

Happy Friday!

As we move deeper into the spring stretch, I remain grateful for the steady, professional way you support students and one another. Our performance targets in attendance, discipline, and academic growth remain in clear view, and the habits you bring to classrooms, hallways, buses, and cafeterias each day are what keep us moving toward those goals. This week’s Wrap-up focuses on how we use the last weeks of school to keep students moving forward and how we are planning next year’s professional learning so it truly fits the people doing the work.

I also want to thank you specifically for your conscientious approach to our ATLAS summative assessments as we move through the testing window. We are already receiving some scores back right away, which is a great benefit of the current system and gives us an early look at how students are performing. For the writing portion of the assessments, about 15% of student responses are hand-scored by human scorers to validate the AI scoring. Those results take a little longer to finalize, but this extra step helps ensure that the scores we receive are accurate, fair, and trustworthy reflections of the work you and your students have done all year.

Finishing the Year the Right Way

The environment we create in these final weeks matters as much as any single lesson plan. Students are watching how we respond when they struggle, how we talk about their future, and whether we truly believe they can still grow. When they see adults who are consistent, caring, and focused, they begin to believe those same things about themselves. Our classrooms, buses, cafeterias, and hallways all send a message, and you play a central role in shaping it every day.

Academically, we know from our data that many of our students are within reach of important targets. That means the work right now is not about starting over; it is about moving students who are “close” into truly proficient territory. The way we plan questions, structure small groups, prioritize writing and reasoning, and use feedback in these next few weeks can nudge students across that line. Every conference, every re-teach, and every moment when a student gets to explain their thinking is another brick laid in their long-term success.

As we move into next week, please keep a close eye on the same core levers that have served us well all year. Daily attendance, both for students and adults. A calm, predictable approach to behavior and classroom expectations. Strong Tier One instruction that uses the time we have with students very well. When those pieces are in place, the rest of our work has a solid foundation.

Looking Ahead to 2026–2027 Learning

As we look ahead to 2026–2027, we have finalized a district Employee Professional Development and Training Plan that outlines our required days, district priorities, and major opportunities for next year. You can review the full plan here: 2026–2027 MSD Employee Training Plan. This plan provides a backbone for our work, with a clear focus on curriculum and instruction, literacy engagement, and writing engagement. It also maps out required training days, district data days, parent conference hours, and additional opportunities offered through our partners.

The plan includes on-site professional development, classroom work days, and conference days designed to support staff across all campuses. There are scheduled sessions for math instruction at different grade bands, lesson plan internalization, strategic reading, and district-wide data days that help us align what we teach with what students need. In addition, the plan highlights cooperative opportunities through DMESC, such as math intervention, writing aligned with ATLAS, and summer conferences that touch nearly every content area.

Professional Learning that Fits You

At the same time, I want to be very clear: our goal is not to simply “fill hours”; our goal is to grow people. A strong district plan gives us alignment, but the most powerful professional learning happens when it is connected to your actual needs, your Professional Growth Plan, and the students you serve every day. If there are trainings, conferences, or sessions you believe would benefit you more than what is currently listed, or would better fit your role and goals, we want you to have those opportunities.

You have access to a wide range of options through DMESC, ADE, AR IDEAS, and professional organizations. The plan already points to sessions in areas like literacy, mathematics, science, CTE, early career exploration, dyslexia, mentoring and coaching, classroom behavior, and ESL support. In short, there is something there for almost every role, and the challenge will be making sure you know what is available and how it connects to your work.

If you see a session, conference, or course that clearly aligns with your growth areas or instructional needs, please visit with your building administrator. We will work with you to see how it can fit with the district plan, required trainings, and available resources. When you invest in learning that truly matters to you, our students are the ones who benefit the most.

This same mindset applies to our support staff, drivers, counselors, paraprofessionals, and all who serve students in roles that may not always be in the spotlight. Your learning matters just as much. If there is a training or certification that would help you serve students more effectively, strengthen safety, or make your daily work more sustainable, I want us to talk about it. The purpose of our professional development system is to support you, not box you in.

Staying Focused on Our Purpose

As we move through Week 32, please continue to treat these tasks—finishing strong with students and planning your own learning—as one more way to advocate for your students and for one another. Building strong relationships, holding high expectations, and providing the kind of feedback that helps students believe they can grow remain the core of our work. When students experience adults who are both supportive and demanding in the best sense of the word, they develop confidence that carries far beyond our classrooms. That is at the heart of our mission: helping every student and staff member build a strong sense of purpose and the skills to pursue it.

Closing Celebrations

Mena baseball picked up a hard-fought road win at Booneville on Monday, edging out their hosts 9–8. It is good to see our players continuing to compete well, respond in pressure situations, and represent our community the right way as they move through a busy spring schedule.

Our track and field athletes at both the junior high and senior high levels continue to perform very well in recent meets. Across events, our Bearcats and Ladycats are turning in strong efforts, earning top finishes, and showing steady improvement as the season progresses. Their work on the track and in the field reflects a lot of time invested in practice and a commitment to competing with character and effort.

As a reminder, if you have not yet completed the DeQueen–Mena Educational Service Cooperative user feedback survey that was shared last week, please take a few minutes to do so. Your input directly shapes the services and professional learning the co-op provides in the future and helps ensure that support remains aligned with the work you are doing every day. You can access the survey here: DMESC User Satisfaction Survey.

It was a good week of determination at Mena Public Schools.

At Mena Public Schools, our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.

Keep the #menareads posts and videos coming, and have a nice weekend!

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