Q&A with District 833 superintendent

Talk about it

In less than a week the days of summer will be a distant memory. Instead of barbeques, there will be school lunches. Instead of sunny days at a beach, there will be long afternoons in the library.

The fall will also bring about a lot of changes to District 833 — new attendance boundaries, new grade configurations, a transition from a junior to a middle school and a new high school — that have been met with a variety of positive and negative reactions.

The Woodbury Bulletin recently sat down with District 833 superintendent Mark Porter to discuss the upcoming year and the looming changes.

WB: Are you excited about the first day of school?

MP: It’s going to be exciting to see kids come back in. When the school year begins there’s kind of what the restaurant business would call a ‘soft opening.’ Even if you go out to our schools now, you will see a significant amount of student activity as they are coming back and getting engaged. This will be the true new beginning to what I believe is a year of great significance.

WB: Are you relieved that all of the new changes will finally come to reality?

MP: It’s not an end of change, it’s the beginning of our opportunity to use that change effectively. Yes, this does represent a culmination of significant effort to make these types of improvements. The result is tremendously expanded opportunities for students. What everybody sees is the new building, but it’s something that’s going to impact all students and that’s what I think will be so exciting about the first day. It’ll be exciting to see all that really kick in September 8th.

More Q&A with District 833 superintendent Mark Porter is available in the Wednesday, Sept. 2 print edition of the Woodbury Bulletin.

Tags: district 833, south washington county schools, mark porter, education, superintendent