Star City

Whatever it takes.

I heard this phrase no less than twenty times last week during my visit to Star City School District.

To begin with...Superintendent Laffoon had organized my visit to coordinate with both a state senator and representative. He planned an immaculate schedule of classroom visits to highlight his school and share his students' stories.

We got to see each campus and visit with several teachers and students and the motto of WHATEVER IT TAKES was evident in every corner of the district.

Whatever it takes...providing wrap-around services by establishing two (yes TWO) health clinics on site. Students have access to medical, dental, and mental health services at school.

Whatever it takes...hiring additional staff to provide teacher aides for special needs students. We met a young man who would not have been able to manage being mainstreamed in the traditional classroom without his personal aide. At first he was quite distressed by the invasion of us on-lookers but by the time we left he was showing off what he built in engineering class.

Whatever it takes...providing a space for students to get away from the classroom while remaining engaged. An entire building is dedicated to providing a space for ALE students, students taking college level courses, home school students, and students who just need a break from the traditional classroom to work together. The beauty is labels do not enter that building.

Whatever it takes...providing extra aides and resources in the high school self-contained classroom so that students can truly learn life skills as well as develop work skills. The students in this classroom not only provide a deep cleaning for hire service where teachers can sign up for their services via Google docs but also their own mini lunch shop. The students run a sandwich shop from their classroom...taking orders, making sandwiches and soups by hand daily, and delivering meals to teachers. The smell of bacon filled the room during our visit as they prepared the sandwiches for the day. Two students even act as managers and oversee production.

Whatever it takes...takes on a new meaning when you see first hand how this district uses this motto to provide opportunities and access to high quality education to EVERY. SINGLE. STUDENT. And