Now that the school year has officially started, Superintendent Jeff Swensson said one of the main goals for the district is the implementation of the state RISE standards. According to Swensson, since this is the first year of the new teacher-evaluation system, each teacher is only being evaluated in one class this year.

“In this first year of Carmel RISE, only one class (is being evaluated)… truly because nobody in our school system nor the state is an expert in RISE because nobody’s ever done it,” he said.

Ultimately, however, Swensson sees the RISE standards as a real opportunity for school improvement, though it is too early to evaluate their implementation.

“Out of this Carmel RISE, we’ve got the opportunity to enhance, improve and really expand what we know just by sharing (data),” he said. “It’s meant to be very positive and very generative of progress.”

According to junior Spencer Satz, however, not all students feel the same way. Satz, for one is not quite convinced of the effectiveness of the RISE standards and is worried about teacher creativity.

“Teachers seem to be teaching more towards standards,” he said. “Rather than subjects. It seems like they are more serious about the standards and it seems like their creativity in teaching has been limited compared to past years. I think that creativeness from teachers in the classroom keeps students more interested in school, and it seems like that has been seriously impaired.”

In addition to the implementation of the RISE standards, Swensson said that the school board is also looking to approve the district’s new strategic plan, a three to five year plan outlining the goals for the district, by the end of the month.

“The strategic plan is still a work in progress, so the board of education is still working on it,” Swensson said. “That being said, a committee has worked long and hard last year to get us to a strategic plan composed of three basic sub goals and we’ll be posting it… near the end of September because the board… has devoted a separate meeting to each one of the sub goals, then they will devote our upcoming workshop to considering all three together, and then vote at the end of the month. By the end of September we will have a new strategic plan developed by a committee involving teachers, administrators, parents and very thoroughly considered by the school board.”

Finally, Swensson noted that he is continuing his work on Performance Qualified School Designation legislation, previously known as High Performing School District Designation. According to Swensson, this bill would give state school districts like this one more flexibility in their schedules and teaching requirements as well as other restrictive state regulations.

“The concept of freeing school districts that have incredible metrics… in all areas of all education is still at the core of the legislation,” he said. “What we’re looking for is the state to remove regulations that prevent us (from providing more opportunities for students).”