Three area schools will be coming together in February for a collaborative teacher learning day featuring a superintendent from Kentucky. Mid-Prairie Superintendent Mark Schneider said he and Jeff Dicks, the shared Washington and WACO Superintendent, had the opportunity to listen to a talk given by Buddy Berry about things he was doing in his school district that have made it successful. Schneider and Dicks agreed it would be beneficial to have Berry speak to the staff and teachers at their districts, to discuss effective learning techniques. Dicks mentioned that Washington schools have a professional learning day for teachers scheduled for February 17th, and suggested the districts get together that day and invite Berry to present. At their December meeting, the Mid-Prairie School Board agreed to make February 17th a professional work day for their district as well.

Teachers and administrators from the three districts will meet in Washington to hear Berry and participate in breakout sessions on effective learning in the classroom. Schneider is excited for the collaboration between the districts, and says, “My philosophy is, no matter how good we are, we can always get better. That applies to the teachers and administrators, and the only way we can get better is to be exposed to other people and other ideas. And this is an opportunity to do it together as a region on February 17th. So I’m looking forward to that.” To accommodate the session, the Mid-Prairie schools have canceled classes on February 17th, and will extend the school year from May 30th to May 31st.