Editorial: Creativity on display in Farmington schools

Talk about it

Running a successful school district takes creative thinking in the best of times, and at a time when budgets are tight, good ideas that can allow teachers to do more with less are all the more important.

For Farmington schools to reach their goal of being among the state’s best, it will take a lot of thinking like what was on display at a school board retreat last week, where superintendent Jay Haugen laid out some of his ideas about what makes a school district successful. Those ideas won’t all become reality in Farmington’s near future. Some might never be implemented. But it is interesting to see them expressed, and to see school board members receptive to taking a fresh approach to the business of educating children.

That creative thinking is on display elsewhere in the school district as well these days. It was there as district administrators worked to address enrollment that came in significantly higher than the district anticipated.

It is also there at Riverview Elementary School, where teacher Cinda Current has steadily built a menagerie of animals for students to examine and in some cases touch. There are hissing cockroaches, blue-tongued skinks and several varieties of snakes. The presence of the critters adds a different dimension for students learning about the world around them.

The new school year is still getting under way in Farmington, but as it does we see things that remind us of the good things available to students in this district.

By all accounts this school year got off to as smooth a start as any in recent memory. We look forward to seeing the kind of creative thinking on display as it continues.

Tags: opinion, farmington, editorials, education