The Wrangell School Board met in open session on Monday, Oct. 17 to discuss a number of issues related to board and district budget and goals, facility renovation, personnel issues and the Alaska School District Report Card for 2011.
Opening the meeting, district superintendent Dr. Rich Rhodes called for a vote on a new board president, vice president and secretary/treasurer for the 2011-12 school year.
In an uncontested selection and unanimous vote, board member Susan Eagle was selected as board president, while Krissy Smith was elevated to board vice president. Board member Rick Groshong, the outgoing president, took on new duties as the secretary and treasurer of the five-person board.
Board members Peter Helgeson and Rinda Howell were not present at the meeting.
After the housekeeping votes were taken and new officers appointed, the board got down to business regarding the 2011-12 board goal and budget talks.
According to Rhodes, a good deal of work lies ahead for the board on a number of topics.
“It’s time to start developing our budget adoption process,” Rhodes said. “We should set aside some time going into December to assess our strategic process regarding the budget.”
According to Rhodes, that budget process and a review of the district’s five-year strategic plan should begin in January and will focus on moving forward in the next few years and will include a public comment process.
“As a board, this will allow us to set our priorities and build our around what we want to do as a district,” Rhodes added.
The board also discussed coming renovations at the Evergreen Elementary School office and planning for the bid process regarding upgrades to the building.
“We’re ready to move forward,” Rhodes told the board. “We have money in the capital improvement funds and we would like to go out to bid on the project. We have a sizeable amount of money available and though we want to be tight with it, we have about $400,000 in that fund.”
According to Rhodes, using the borough’s public works department to put together the Request For Proposal documents will help save money in the process.
“We’re thinking we can get the price down $3,000-4,000 by using our own people on this,” Rhodes said.
The renovations to the school will include an exterior window and replacement of the main entrance door to the office. RFP documents on the work should be available by the board’s November meeting, Rhodes added.
A preliminary cost estimate for the renovation is approximately $7,500, according to Wrangell Public Works project manager Amber Al-Haddad. The contractor chosen for the job will likely supply one carpenter and will utilize Rhodes as a project laborer in order to keep costs down.
The board also reviewed Wrangell’s “School District Report Card” during its meeting.
The report, which is an annual assessment of student and school performance across core subjects, shows that 15.2 percent of Wrangell students scored far below proficiency in science. That is compared with just 1.8 percent of Wrangell students scoring as low in writing, and 2.7 percent in reading.
Even at that high of 15.2 percent, Wrangell scored better than the state average in science testing, which showed 19.5 percent of students lacking strong skill in the subject.
Eagle said she was troubled by the results in science testing – until an explanation from Wrangell High School principal Monty Buness clarified the issue.
“I was a little surprised when looking at this,” Eagle said. “I did not realize the science scores were not so good.”
Buness said the reason was simple, though not unique to Wrangell.
“One of the reasons is an overemphasis on other curriculum like reading, writing and math,” Buness said. “Plus, science is only tested during 4th, 8th and 10th grades while those others are tested every year. Science is also not as succinct as the other subjects. It’s nebulous because there is so much out there and it’s hard to determine what to test for. There is a disconnect between what we’re teaching and what is being tested across the State of Alaska, not just here.”
Rhodes said the district is beginning a process to address science education in Wrangell.
“We are starting to create a continuum for science and we will look at what each grade level is teaching,” Rhodes said. “We’ll also look at what textbook we’re using. Our goal is to have major concepts for each grade level.”
The board also approved a contract addendum with Alaska Virtual Academy’s K12 program that will provide two additional teachers for students enrolled in the Alaska Learning Network. The cost of the contract totals $93,040 for the teachers and $300 per course for each AKLN student per semester.
A contract with Ray Stokes to serve as assistant basketball coach at Stikine Middle School was approved, as was a contract for Therese Pempek to take on duties as the Upward Bound coordinator for the district.
The next regular meeting of the board will be Nov. 21 at the district office.
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