By all reports, things have gotten off to a great start at the North Crawford School District. According to both the elementary and the middle school/high school principals, strong strides are being made to implement new English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics curriculums, and Career and Technical Education is also reporting exciting new programs.
Elementary principal Amanda Killeen reported to the board at their September 17 meeting that teachers have been doing intensive personal development. Those efforts have focused on ‘learning progressions,’ where teachers focus on teaching standards for each grade level, breaking apart each standard, and creating a cohesive continuum throughout the elementary grade levels.
“It really came down to the fact that a lot of our staff are just learning to dig into student data to adjust curriculums,” Killeen explained. “These are skills that not all of us have, and I’m still learning too. We are using what we learn to chart our professional development plans for the year.”
Killeen said that because there is no new staff in the elementary, they were able to quickly pick up where they’d left off last school year and make progress.
Killen told the board that it is ‘assessment season’ for kindergarten through third grade, and fourth and fifth grade students will take reading tests.
“I just want to say how proud I am of our staff being so intentional with all this work at the beginning of the year,” Killeen remarked. “Starting the year is a challenge in its own right, and then we added in all the personal development, but its been nice to see the teachers so positive and excited to put all these pieces together.”
Killeen also reported on developments with the daycare operation. She said that daycare manager Nicole Harris reports using funding through a bridge grant to offset the cost of staff benefits, and that they have added three new employees. She reported there is a waiting list for the age zero to two area, a little bit of room in the two and three-year-old room, and the three and four-year-old room is at capacity.
“The daycare staff was able to work out their schedules so that they all put in four longer days, and then get one day off,” Killeen reported. “It is really helping to prevent burnout so common with folks that work with really little kids.”
Middle/High School
Middle School/High School principal Dr. Rob Sailer had an equally enthusiastic story to tell about the launch of the school year.
“The big news for us is that we have a fully scheduled WIN time, with half an hour for math and half an hour for ELA,” Sailer told the board. “We’ve intentionally not scheduled this during homeroom time, so that kids can gain the extra help they need.”
Sailer said that teachers have already had two in-person training sessions for implementation of the new ELA curriculum. They’ve completed initial testing already, and starting with the second week of school, are getting lots of data to help focus and target their efforts.
Sailer also cited growth of the district’s Youth Apprenticeship Program. He pointed out that the district’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program has lots of exciting things going on as well.
“There’s actually two new student businesses operating this year,” Sailer said. “The first is a floral business through the Agriculture department, and the second is using the new Fab Lab to create Trojan-branded products like cutting boards.”
Sailer said that the floral business will take orders for weddings, school dances, and more, and they will gain experience in purchasing and sales. In the other business, students will gain experience not just with manufacturing products, but also with sales and logistics.
Sailer also discussed the new app students will use to track their community service hours, a requirement for graduation.
“Now all the opportunities for students to volunteer will be visible in the app,” Sailer explained. “Instead of turning in volunteer hours on a piece of paper late in the year, they will use the app to take a picture of them doing the activity, and then get it signed off on immediately.”
Superintendent
Superintendent Brandon Munson waxed enthusiastic about a new robotic field painting machine recently acquired by the Building & Grounds Department.
“It holds about five gallons of paint, and will paint all the athletic fields and could even do parking lots,” Munson said. “It usually takes three-to-four hours just to paint the football field, but now the crew just programs the machine, presses start, and they’re able to walk away and perform other tasks.”
Munson reported that he and Transportation Director Curby Heister have been gathering information so the Transportation Committee can make a recommendation about whether to purchase or rent school vans. He said they’d also talked with a representative of Bluebird buses about transitioning their grant for electric buses away from Lion and to Bluebird.
He reported that Foodservice Director Jen Kapinus is working hard to increase participation in the program.
“She has been trying serving alternative meals so kids have some choice, and also experimenting with some a la carte stuff,” Munson explained. “Participation seems to be up a little bit, especially at the middle school/high school level, which is where the program has traditionally struggled.”
Lastly, Munson reported that State Representative Travis Tranel had toured the district and discussed school funding with him and board president Terry O’Donnell.
“He was very complimentary, very impressed with what we do as a small school, and seems to have a good understanding of finance,” Munson said. “It’s an important relationship for us to foster, and it was great to have him in the building.”
Old business
In old business, the board took up the second reading of school board policy regarding graduation requirements. Munson explained that there are basically three proposed modifications to the policy. Those are reducing the personal finance requirement from a full credit to a half credit, adding a half credit in academic and career planning, and phasing in the community service requirement up to the 20 hours level over the course of a few years.
Board member Judy Powell asked how the 20-hour requirement compared with other schools in the area.
“We surveyed other schools in our area, and found out our required hours was on the low side,” Sailer responded. “Twenty hours seems to be about the average number around here.”
Board member Cody Brockway asked if the reason for doing community service was being explained to high school students?
“Community service has always been viewed as kind of a punishment,” Brockway observed. “I think community service is great – a good life skill – but I think it might be good to explain that its not a punishment, but rather is intended to help kids become better community members. I see it as good citizenship.”
Sailer agreed that it would be good to find a way to emphasize that with high school students.
Terry O’Donnell suggested that the name could perhaps be changed from ‘community service’ to ‘community volunteering.’ He said that this might help to eliminate the notion that it is some form of punishment.
The board voted unanimously to change the policy regarding graduation requirements.
