More than 100,000 students walked through the doors of their school today, Aug. 12, starting another school year — a year into which the district staff has put a tremendous amount of preparation.

“We just so greatly take pride in trying to support their child every single day,” interim School District of Lee County Superintendent Dr. Ken Savage said of parents last week. “It’s such a privilege that they entrust their children to us every day. I know full well what it is like, I have two children in second grade.”

His excitement for a new year kicking off boiled into his own children and all the activities that would go along with it — meeting the teachers, walking them to their classroom on the first day.

As with past years, this year has its challenges.

As of Aug. 8, the district had 170 teacher vacancies, a number that was 211 this time last year.

“Every single vacancy matters to us,” Savage said, adding they would love for those career changers who want to become a teacher to become part of the school system. “There are recruiters in central officer every day. You can just show up.”

He said the school district is one of the few districts in the country that is growing.

“Here in Lee County, we are one of the few that is growing tremendously. It’s a good problem, but a challenge. We welcome the challenge. We can’t get that message out enough,” Savage said, adding that the district will train those individuals and work with them to become certified. “We would love the opportunity to help you succeed.”

The district also continues to have a bus driver shortage, with the need to fill 70 opening positions, down from 87 last year at this time. Savage said every one of those positions is important as with a shortage of drivers, students are late for school, buses are late picking up a child. He said that angers parents as it puts a hardship on families.

“All shortages are important to us,” Savage said.

There is good news for students — fewer assessments. He said it is important for the district to understand the purpose of every assessment, as testing should provide a clear purpose.

“Every minute we spend testing is a minute we aren’t spending instructing,” Savage said, adding that everything they do instructionally they try to do with a higher level of quality. “That starts with assessments.”

If the assessments are riddled with errors that is an issue. He said at times the district gave assessments that did not have a clear purpose. Savage said it is a balancing act of getting the right information through the assessment that will help teachers.

“It’s a very complex issue. A huge body of work moving forward with us,” he said.

The body of work also continues with moving the efficiency level higher among all students. Savage said the last two years, the district was nine out of 10 among the state’s largest districts.

“We had never been that low ever in our history. You really have to take a good long look in the mirror and understand why that is the case,” he said. “You have to take the time to deeply understand where you are truly dropping the ball — which education challenges are you experiencing.”

That dive is going to be a yearlong process, as there is so much opportunity to study various different areas.

“The good news — there are pockets of tremendous excellence,” Savage said, as individual teachers are still having profound positive impacts on students learning in the classroom. “A system of our size, you know you are going to have those pockets of excellence. That gives us a real opportunity to study how those teachers, group of teachers, that are really adding that value. We are able to diagnose that more effectively.”

He said identifying those critical differences and scaling them up is a powerful opportunity for the school district, which began over the summer.

With every school year, safety is also at the forefront for the district. The school district is the only district in Florida that has the OPENGATE weapons detection system at every school.

“It really serves as a deterrent,” Savage said as it decreased weapons possession charges that they track.

The detection system offers a psychological opportunity for individuals as they understand these types of security measures are in place.

“The more important thing is we are trying to create a culture where everyone feels safe and takes a responsibility for safety,” he said. “A single weapons detection is not a fix all. It’s a human issue first and foremost. We have to create an environment and culture of safety, so when students know something bad is going to occur — it is really how connected we are as people to surface the elements. Students are the ones that often report the issues. The more connected people are the less likely you have an individual that feels completely isolated and harms oneself, or other people.”