After months of consideration, the Aberdeen School District levy will remain unchanged from last year at $600,000, following action by the Aberdeen School District Board of Trustees this past week.
Board members at the meeting were Irene Barrett, Elaine Blik, Ritchey Toevs and Marc Foster. Larry Lankford was not present.
The levy election will be held Tuesday, March 13. If approved, the levy funds will be used to help pay maintenance and operation expenses for the district from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Aberdeen American Legion Hall and at the Springfield Bingham County Shop.
Superintendent Jane Ward said the schools will not be cut back as much this year, but they are still going to be getting a 1 1/2 percent cutback in the end.
Before the trustees presented their decision on the levy, Becky Pulliam addressed them as a teacher and a patron. She asked them not to raise the levy. She felt it had gone up enough and even asked the board to think about eventually going back down. She asked the district to monitor their spending and see where the spending is in the district. She said a four day school week could be a savings for the district.
“If we are a school who struggles to meet AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) we need to have something to make us marketable for people to come to Aberdeen and a lower levy could be that,” she said. “I want to encourage us all to maintain the levy or go down a little.”
Four day school week
Andrea Myler presented her findings on a four day school week. She called most of the schools in the surrounding area. All of them she called have gone to a four day week except West Side. Their superintendent is against it.
She said she was excited after she called past Aberdeen superintendent Joel Wilson who is superintendent at Preston. He reported that the Aberdeen School District doesn’t know how much money they will save by going to four days. It is amazing for him to see the savings at Preston.
Myler suggested going five days a week until the time the school gets out for harvest. After the students come back from harvest then switch to a four day week. By doing that, they could begin school at 8 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. That is not too much longer on the school day.
She said she asked the other districts why they went to the four day week and they all said it was because of money. Now that they have done it, they have better attendance at school and fewer teacher absences. They say it is better for the athletes because they miss less school.
All those districts start about the same time Aberdeen does, Myler said, and they are out of school on May 31. Some of the districts get out for potato harvest the same way that Aberdeen does. One district said it took the elementary students one week to adjust but they are in school from 8 to 4.
All the districts said they saved money on busing and on the support staff. They said at first the support staff was upset, but now they do enjoy the day off. Some of the schools are on a trimester and some on a semester.
“The response I got from everyone was so positive. They said it is a good way to save lots of money,” Myler said.
Ward said it was good to hear the average daily attendance went up on the four day week. The ADA is what drives all the financing. Barrett said Aberdeen, although they have looked at a four day week for about four years, has been concerned because the classified staff will have to bear the brunt of switching to four days. She added it sounded good that they adjusted.
She added they will take everything said and consider it all.
Superintendent and administrator reports
Elementary principal Robi Jo Colton reported the DARE officer presented the last session on Jan. 12. He was teaching the fifth grade students about drug resistance. DARE graduation was Tuesday, Jan. 17. Teachers say it was the biggest turnout ever, Colton said.
Teachers are contacting parents when their student’s grades are less than a “C”. The fifth grade teachers have a formal letter that is sent home weekly when the student has earned a low grade. If the fifth grade student is a special ed student teachers are encouraged to contact the parent personally. The third and fourth grade teachers call or e-mail the parents.
The fifth grade is including an English/language arts rotation implementing more time in those subjects each day.
Colton said the fourth grade teachers are collaborating to consider ways to increase writing skills in their classrooms.
On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the fourth and fifth grade students have been invited to Readers’ Theatre ISU to watch a production on bullying. The students will be gone from 8:30 a.m. to noon.
Red Ribbon Week will be Jan. 23 through 27. The theme is “Give Drugs the Boot”.
High school principal Travis Pincock reported the high school teachers continue to make contact with parents whose students have a D or F.
Pincock said he finished conducting evaluations for all teachers. There are some outstanding teachers at the high school. When asked what he thought was outstanding, he replied that the students are always engaged, the teachers are up and moving around and they are caring about their students.
The Aberdeen wrestling tournament will be Friday and Saturday, Feb. 3 and 4.
The boys and girls basketball district tournaments will be in February.
The GEAR UP I grant will be ending this year. Thirty-five of 39 students who were eligible applied for a scholarship. There is a lot of money attached to the scholarships, Pincock said. He added that Aberdeen has heard that their GEAR UP II grant has been approved.
Special services director David Vaughn reported he contacted several districts regarding pre-school Child Find procedures and the identification of students with English as a Second Language difficulties. They will discuss this as a region at the upcoming meeting.
He said as a result of last month’s board meeting discussion on the disproportionate number of Hispanic students in special education he looked into and divided up students by grades and disabilities. Seventy-one percent of the elementary students in special education were Hispanic. Some of those students were language impaired, not disabled. They are working to get everything worked out so the students aren’t misidentified.
The Idaho English Language Assessment will be given in February.
Superintendent Jane Ward said the technology grant for the school district was approved. It was for $24,000. With that money, mini grants will be given to the teachers.
Through the state, all teachers will receive new computers next year. Ward said she wants the teachers all trained before the students get theirs.
The Focus Visit that talked with approximately 30 parents concerning their thoughts about the schools their students attended found parents positive, but they indicated they would like more communication done by e-mail, if possible. Because of this, each office will ask for e-mail addresses from parents when registering the students next year.
Because of the Focus Visit, the capacity builders are using the results to help administrators develop their corrective action plans and the restructuring plan that will be sent to the state on March 1.
April Samons was hired as custodian of the high school.
Ward said she checked into the ownership of the property by the school that the Gem Trail Foundation asked about last month. She found out that the city does not own the property. The land is owned by the school district.
She thanked Pincock for using money in his budget to redo the high school gym floor.
The following items were presented and approved: the December board meeting minutes, the December claims, the December financial report, the county tax report, the building budget reports and two overnight trip requests. One trip request was for two students, Taylor Simms and Cindrie Lowder, to participate in the Idaho All-State music groups in Coeur d’Alene April 19 through 22. Simms will participate in the mixed choir and Lowder in the orchestral. The other trip was for Jan. 23 and 24, for two boys and six girls to attend FFA Day on the Hill in Boise.
Blik said the district has lots of decisions to make. She appreciated what Myler and Pulliam said and would like the community members to give their ideas to the trustees. She added that with everyone working together everyone could get through the tough times. Sometimes change has to happen, but she is sure that the changes will be good.
Foster thanked the community for their support in the past so the district can continue giving area students an education. He thanked everyone for the new high school gym. With the ceiling tiles replaced and the floor surfaced it is like a new gym, he said.
Barrett thanked the teachers and administrators for applying for grants. She added the grant dollars help take financial stress off the district. She said they always do challenge Frank Dye and Ward to find out what the district needs are. They will be looking at everything to see if juggling the money to different areas will help. She also said she appreciates the patrons coming to the board with ideas. The board needs to hear from them.
Aberdeen trustees recessed from open meeting into executive session to discuss an employee’s evaluation. Following the closed session the board reconvened in public session. Upon reconvening, they set a public meeting for Wednesday, Feb. 9, at 6 p.m. in the high school gymnasium. The meeting was then adjourned until Feb. 9.
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