315 West Grand

Hinton, IA 51024

Phone: 712-947-4329

Fax: 712-947-4427

setting. We have very few students needing this alternative setting; however the few students that have attended have been very successful.

*Currently many districts within the State of Iowa are struggling financially. Districts with declining enrollment or enrollment that is “flat” are experiencing budget concerns. Our District remains financially sound due to increasing enrollment of resident students and open enrolled in students. One measure of financial stability is called the Solvency Ratio. A solvency ratio of 0-5% is considered good; a ration of 6-10% is considered excellent; and a ratio above 10% is considered outstanding. Our current solvency ratio for this school year is projected to end at 15.6%! Our solvency ratio and financial stability of the school is in outstanding condition.

There are many other great things happening within our school district. We are very fortunate to have a caring and supportive community. This support allows us to offer quality education with a personal touch. As our mission statement says, we are “A Community Dedicated To Developing Responsible Life Long Learners Prepared For Future Challenges.”

By: Al Steen

Wow, where has the school year gone? It seems like we were just starting school yesterday and now we are making plans for graduation and for the next school year!

Self reflection is the best way to improve as individuals and as a system. As we self reflect about this past year, several “Good News” items come to mind. We oten assume everyone knows what positive things are happening within our school. However, in reality, many times we do not promote ourselves well enough for everyone to know all of the good things that are happening. There is no way we could list every positive in this brief article, but here are a few of the great things happening in Hinton Community School:

*Parent support for our district continues to be outstanding. Many, many parents volunteer their time to help in the classrooms, serve on committees, and help in other ways. We are very appreciative of our parental support and we are successful as a school due to our parents help and support.

*Student achievement keeps improving within our school district. Our goal is to have all of our students proficient in

reading, math, and science in the near future. Our students consistently score above state and national averages on our standardized tests. For example, in our eighth grade, the percent of students less than proficient in reading comprehension has decreased by twelve percent over the past five years! This is a huge improvement in a short amount of time! We may not be at our goal of one hundred percent of our students proficient in reading comprehension, but we are making great strides towards our goal and our students are improving. The commitment we have made to Professional Development for our staff is “paying off” with improved student achievement.

*Several staff and program positions were added for this school year and have been of great benefit to our students and school. These positions include a half-time Tech position in charge of our network and technology needs for students and staff, a middle school/high school tutor program, and we formally joined the Flexible Learning Center Consortium. This consortium provides alternative education for high school students that are not successful in a tradition

School “Happenings”

Hinton Community School

BLACKHAWK

May 2008

Volume 14 Issue 8

Mission Statement

A Community Dedicated To Developing Responsible Life Long Learners Prepared For Future Challenges.