The Highland Central Faculty District (HCSD) will be heading into the 2021-2022 college calendar year with an “eye to the future” and a dynamic leadership staff, which features quite a few of the district’s well-favored veteran players. Joel Freer, the previous principal of Highland Elementary College (HES), will acquire above as superintendent of faculties Dr. Patrick Boyd, the previous director of Pupil Personnel Services, will develop his role and grow to be assistant superintendent of Pupil Staff Providers and Human Methods and Thomas Bongiovi, the retiring superintendent of educational institutions, has agreed to stay on as an administrative coach/mentor to guarantee continuity and good results for the district.
Joel Freer
“The Board and administration has been extremely thoughtful and strategic in its strategy to constructing a potent administrative group,” claimed Board of Instruction president Thomas Miller. “We have all of the suitable folks in the suitable spots, with Mr. Bongiovi still playing a job to ensure a easy changeover. This succession program presents absolutely everyone a solid foundation for achievement. It’s enjoyable.”
Freer, who requires the reins this September, has been in the district due to the fact 2004. He to start with served as an assistant principal at Highland Middle School right up until becoming principal at HES in 2008. He has an exceptional relationship with college students, people and lecturers, and suggests he however enjoys viewing and catching up with former students and their mom and dad around the neighborhood. “I am honored and humbled that the district feels I have the ability established to get Highland forward,” Freer said of his new appointment.
An additional reward is that Freer presently has a good working romantic relationship with Boyd, as they have collaborated jointly for a lot of yrs. “I understood immediately he would be phenomenal in this new purpose,” Freer said.
Boyd, who to start with started doing the job in the district as a unique education trainer at HES in 2009, was hired by Freer and is also a noticeable presence about the Highland faculty group. He at the moment oversees Unique Education Products and services, the English as a New Language (ENL) system and homeschooling. In 2020, he served as a grantwriter for the district and was accountable for securing funds for two COVID-relief applications – the Governor’s Emergency Training Aid (GEER) Fund and the Elementary and Secondary University Unexpected emergency Aid (ESSER) Fund – which served the district in adapting to the COVID-19 crisis. This incorporated the purchase of products these types of as a lot more versatile, washable classroom furniture and a device for every single pupil for digital studying, as very well as the generation of a committee to handle the pandemic’s effects on the social/psychological wellbeing of college students.
Dr. Patrick Boyd
Boyd claims he is looking ahead to increasing his position even more, which will involve functioning much more with collective bargaining models and “the bigger picture of all the universities in the district.”
The new crew says that, while there is constantly substantially to tackle, the emphasis of the HCSD this approaching university yr lies squarely on college students. “As we wait around for guidance from the condition, we are hoping to return to an natural environment that is as typical as attainable. We will be evaluating what the gaps in instruction are and receiving pupils again on keep track of and feeling excellent,” Freer mentioned.
Other continuing initiatives include integrating technological innovation – which features the likes of Schoology, Zoom and other well-known applications of electronic finding out – and performing in the direction of extra variety in each selecting practices and curriculum progress.
“We are a tiny-but-mighty district,” he summed. “And we really don’t wait around we are generally shifting ahead. This suggests placing learners initially, empowering academics and administrators and normally holding our eyes on the long run.”
