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Garden Valley principal highlights student growth, service projects and staffing needs
Summary
At the District 7 school board meeting April 7, Garden Valley Principal Wendy Hazer presented academic gains, service-learning projects, staffing and facility needs for the K–4 school, citing testing growth, a 179-student enrollment and concerns about playgrounds, portables and internet service.
Garden Valley Principal Wendy Hazer told the District 7 school board Monday that the school’s students showed measurable academic gains this year and that a mix of classroom projects, service-learning and family engagement has increased student participation and morale.
Hazer, speaking at the board’s April 7 meeting, said Garden Valley serves 179 students in kindergarten through fourth grade and reported testing and interim assessment improvements, including a rise in students at or above grade level on i-Ready reading (from 23% in fall to 43% in winter) and in i-Ready math (from 13% to 36% over the same period). “Every year we are very proud of our academic growth by our students and the hard work by our teachers,” Hazer said.
The presentation tied classroom results to multiple school initiatives. Hazer described service-learning projects in every grade, a student-led daily pause run by fourth graders, classroom and school “transformations” (themed learning events), hydroponic gardens funded by a Williston Community Builders grant, and new tutoring/mentoring roles for upper elementary students. She credited the PTO with raising more than $3,000 in under a week for school shirts and other student activities.
Hazer also outlined staff and resource levels: nine classroom teachers, a shared EL teacher, nine certified specialists listed in the presentation, and classified staff that include five general-education paraprofessionals, a behavior-support para, two custodians and two cooks. She said one teacher left in 2023–24 but that, at the time of the presentation, no teachers had announced departures for the coming year; some paraprofessional positions were being filled following a hiring freeze.
At the same time Hazer flagged facility and operational concerns. She said the library and gym portables were deteriorating, playground equipment was limited and internet connectivity problems persisted. "We do have a lot of problems," she said, adding that the district’s IT vendor Pro IT had been brought in and that staff were investigating the network signal source.
Board members praised the presentation and asked clarifying questions about assessment scales and staffing. Board member comments singled out the school’s student leadership roles, the daily pause routine and service-learning projects as strong contributors to school culture.
Hazer closed by noting strong family-engagement data from the most recent AdvancedEd survey (93% of families said they feel welcomed and respected) and thanked teachers and staff. The board moved on to later agenda items after a short question-and-answer period.
Ending: The presentation is part of the district’s spring cycle of elementary reports and came as the board considers boundary changes and new construction that district staff say are meant to stabilize enrollments and reduce reliance on portables.
