Superintendent’s Message
Dale L. Dickson
November 19, 2019

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the students, staff, parents and community for a wonderful start to the 2019-20 school year. While we were indeed pressed to complete a number of our construction projects, the district staff, Board of Education, Robertson Construction, and BSHM Architects pulled together to effectively execute the final necessary work to assure that our schools opened on time and that new traffic patterns could be put in place.

While we are still working on warranty and punch list items from the: High School, Elementary, Middle School, Stadium Facility, Adams/Oregon Demolition, HS Softball Field, Storage/Maintenance Buildings, and Parking Lot construction projects, we are pleased to have the finish line in sight for each of them. It is wonderful that we have been able to work together as a community to bring about safe and adequate facilities and grounds that are conducive to learning for our students. It is truly amazing what can be accomplished when we all work together to achieve common goals.

Our work continues on facilities as we now focus on developing a scope of work for the renovation of the building previously used as Searfoss Elementary School. This is a good quality structure that can be used in the future to accommodate classes as we grow in student enrollment. Currently we are completing asbestos removal in said building while the Board and Administration work together to set forth final plans for additional renovation. Asbestos removal will be complete by Thanksgiving.

The Board, Administration and Staff continue our research into ways we can introduce increased levels of critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, teamwork and technology into our curriculum. Our teachers do an amazing job now infusing projects into their classroom curriculum. And with 97% of jobs today requiring some form of technology it is important that we offer our students increased learning opportunities that allow them to apply knowledge learned in the fundamental curriculum and prepare them for their selected career path. This year we have incorporated elements of a promising program, Project Lead the Way, into our Middle School curriculum via a partnership with C-TEC. This curriculum offers a pre-engineering approach to students experiencing problem solving, teamwork and critical thinking skills. As we continue our research we are hopeful that we will be able to bring increased innovational learning opportunities to the K-5 and 9-12 grade levels as well.

We are very proud of the community service effort, on the part of our staff and students, in generating in excess of 20,500 food items for our local food pantry. Through this annual food drive, held this year the beginning of October, our students learn the importance of helping and caring for others. Each building in our school district collected food items for the pantry and a group of students, lead by HS teacher Bruce Huffman, worked directly with project coordinator Dennis Murnane to collect, transport and properly store the items at the Johnstown-Northridge Community Food Pantry.

Congratulations to our High School and Middle School bands on an incredible season which culminated in this year’s Varsity Show held November 15th , 16th and 17th. An absolutely wonderful show which displayed the marvelous talent of our student musicians. Our band just keeps getting better and better each year and we thank the students, and their Directors Marc and Angela Zirille, for their hard work and dedication. You are indeed “The Pride of Johnstown.”