Over the past several months I’ve had the privilege of talking to over 75 different groups about Issues 9 & 10 which will be on the ballot on November 6th. Everywhere I go, I’ve been able to share our vision for our school district and our positive shared future. It’s clear that people love Worthington Schools, and they often share with me very personal stories of teachers and support staff that have gone above and beyond to make a positive difference in the life of their child. It’s awesome to have the opportunity to talk with our community about our schools.
As a public school district, we are a significant community asset. When the school year began in August of this year, 10,362 Worthington students entered our schools. To serve our students, we employ 1,205 FTE (full-time equivalent staff). As a service industry, our number one function is teaching the students in our school district and helping them each learn and grow to meet their potential. Thus, the bulk of our staff are teachers.
However, in order to serve our students and our community we are a large organization. Our bus fleet is 90 buses, and we travel on average 6,400 miles each day and over one million miles a year transporting students to and from school and co-curricular events. Our grounds and maintenance team maintains 379 acres of school district land for playgrounds and green space. Our custodial team cleans 1,645,518 square feet of inside space every day. Last year our food service team served students 883,179 meals. This year we’re on pace to serve even more meals!
Finally, Worthington Schools has capital assets owned by our community that are valued currently at around $185,000,000. Buildings, land, furniture, etc… these are utilized each day to help accomplish our mission: To empower a community of learners who will change the world!
We’re lucky to live and work in a community that cares so deeply about its schools. Every day I’m amazed by the good things happening throughout this large organization.
Most of my numbers for this post come from our Worthington Schools Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2018 (p.135 and 137). If you’d like to dig into the school district’s finances that report is available to the public simply by clicking here.
-Trent Bowers, Superintendent