School may be out for Wrangell students’ winter break, but the Public School Board still came together for its last meeting of the year on Monday.
Board members were given a preview of a new disciplinary policy for students at Evergreen Elementary School. A committee of teachers, parents and even a student had developed the exhibit over the past semester.
“We all had ideas on the table,” explained kindergarten teacher Mikki Angerman, one of the committee’s members. “We were all really happy with what the end result was.”
The new disciplinary matrix they came up with was designed specifically with younger students in mind, deviating from standards in place at the middle and high school levels. The new rubric emphasizes mentoring patterns of behavior, intervention when patterns become disruptive, and using available resources to protect students, staff and facilities from chronic or extreme misbehavior.
The discipline matrix tables out offenses and responses by severity over three levels. In the first level, minor transgressions ranging from cheating and lying to arguing and playing with distractions in class are responded to in four steps. This begins with parental contact at the teacher’s discretion, progressing to time out at the next instance, loss of recess time the next, before being bumped up to level two.
Second-level offenses are more serious, running the gamut from fighting and vandalism to inappropriate gestures and petty theft. Under the guidelines, on the first instance of such behavior students might be referred for counseling, lose recess privileges, be sent home or have to hold a meeting between parents and teachers. The second step would be suspension, with a third offense being treated as level three.
Level-three behaviors are the most extreme, ranging from battery and possession of weapons to chronic bullying, sexual misconduct and using technology for explicit purposes. Under the guidelines these would be treated as grounds for expulsion, with the pertinent authorities contacted.
Angerman explained the new disciplinary policy took into better account elementary-aged students, as the prior policy which had applied to all levels in the school district was geared more toward older students. Superintendent Patrick Mayer added it was common in other school districts to have different approaches in place for primary and secondary schools.
School board members also reviewed and approved revisions to the 2018 fiscal year budget. The largest change was the addition of $368,000 in funding due to increased student count. This more than helped offset a setback in operating capital at the year’s start, which had been $56,290 lower than expected.
In expenditures, negotiated increases for teacher salaries increased costs by just over $45,000, though the aide salary line and benefit line items together decreased by under $73,000. However, additional costs for school board governance training, supply and communications costs, and software licensing saw a net increase in costs for the year by $16,065.
Looking ahead already to next year’s budget, Mayer told the board Wrangell schools had some anticipations.
“We believe that we’ll be looking at 292 students next year,” he began.
Other assumptions include an increase in health insurance policy costs by about 10 percent. While no such increases were seen coming into this year, Mayer believed an increase was due.
“It’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of when,” he said.
The administration was also anticipating funding contributions from the Alaska Legislature to remain as they were last year. Mayer noted that flat funding was effectively a slight cut, as other staffing and material costs still increase.
Speaking with the office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Mayer relayed to board members that the future of Secure Rural Schools funding was still uncertain. The Department of Agriculture program went into effect in 2000, and has been renewed by acts of Congress since 2006.
“Sen. Murkowski assured me that Secure Rural Schools would be funded,” he said, but only retroactively. Whether the program would still continue to contribute funding to rural districts at this point is unknown.
The school board will begin preparing next year’s budget when it meets on January 15. Before that, it will also begin its negotiations with Mayer over the superintendent’s contract renewal. Initially, board president Georgianna Buhler recommended that she and fellow member Tammy Groshong sit on a small negotiation team.
“Historically we have only had two board members appointed to the committee,” she explained. This was done for flexibility, Buhler added, as having more board members on the committee would mean having a quorum, which in turn would necessitate a notice to the public.
Board member Aleisha Mollen preferred that negotiations include all members of the board, allowing each to provide input during the deliberations. Hoping to have a contract resolved ahead of next month’s regular meeting, that being the case Buhler suggested holding a special meeting in closed executive session. A date of January 4 was set for the meeting.
In other board business, Mollen and Groshong were awarded recognitions of excellence in the Association of Alaska Public School’s Carl Rose Boardmanship Awards. To make the awards more tangible, technology director Matt Gore presented a pair of vinyl trophies produced by Evergreen Elementary School’s new 3D printer. Kindergarten teacher Mikki Angerman had acquired the device last year, and after a bit of trial and error the machine is now seeing use in the classroom.
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