Fairfield school district grows by 39 students

Iowa school districts? official count-students day is Oct. 1, and that certified enrollment, to be announced Oct. 15, includes home school assistant program students, competent private instruction students and preschool enrollments.

Lacking those categories, Fairfield school district superintendent Art Sathoff shared preliminary enrollment numbers with the school board Monday.

?These are rough numbers and this doesn?t differentiate between resident and open enrolled students,? said Sathoff. ?We?ll see movement in and out in these numbers before Oct. 1.?

Nonetheless, the non-certified numbers from Sept. 12, were encouraging to administrators and board members alike, showing a gain of 39 students over last year?s unofficial count.

Comparing last year?s student count with this year?s: Fairfield High School increased by seven students, to 558; Fairfield Middle School increased by 21 students, to 534; Libertyville Elementary School decreased by three students, to 98; Pence Elementary School decreased by seven students, to 298; and Washington Elementary School increased by 21 students to 282.

?We are bucking the trend projected,? said Sathoff.

A University of Iowa geography study within the last 10 years projected declining enrollments for many Iowa school districts, including Fairfield?s, he said.

Wellness policy

Auxiliary services director Fred McElwee told the board the school wellness policies will need reviewing and updated this year, to reflect the new federal law that went into effect July 1.

He provided copies of the district?s current Wellness Policy required by the Child Nutrition WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, a policy primer from the Iowa Association of School Boards and a comparison chart of the 2004 guidelines and the newer guidelines established as part of the Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

The wellness policy not only has guidelines for school lunch contents but also requires schools to provide ?a comprehensive learning environment for developing and practicing life long wellness behaviors,? according to the code.

?The entire school environment, not just the classroom, will be aligned with healthy school goals to positively influence a student?s understanding, beliefs and habits as they relate to good nutrition and regular physical activity.?

Good Conduct Policy

Another school policy was before the board briefly Monday. Board members Jeri Kunkle, Bob Waugh and Amy Miller serve on the board?s policy committee and in August, the board decided the Good Conduct Policy should be reviewed.

A high school student appealed to the school board in August during a closed session to be reinstated to play sports. Different board members interpreted the policy differently from one another. The committee met and asked the full board to approve an edit Good Conduct Policy on the district?s website to match the student handbook language. The committee decided to wait until the end of the school year to review and make any possible changes for the 2013-14 school year.

?Parents and students have already signed, agreeing with the policy for this year,? said Kunkle.

?We didn?t want to make any changes mid-stream,? said Miller.

?We?ll bring it back to the table before next year,? said Kunkle. ?We want to meet with coaches about this before making changes.?

Summer school improves skills

Elementary students attending summer school achieved growth in reading skills, said Chris Welch, Pence Elementary School principal.

?Every student who attended the majority of days made improvements,? he said.

Students entering first grade worked on learning and applying letter sounds to decode words. This group improved word fluency by an average of 4.6 words read.

Students entering second grade increased reading accuracy by 7.15 percent; improved correct words read per minute by an average of 14.77 words; and reading comprehension scores improved by an average of 8.33 percent for this group.

Students entering third, fourth and fifth grades focused on reading fluency. This group had improved reading scores also, with the average growth during summer school at 13.31 words read correct per minute.

All elementary schools are rolling out Positive Behavior Instructional Supports, named Trojan Traits at the elementary schools. The program ensures a common language, expectations, direct teaching and behavior tracking everywhere in the school. The consistency allows every student to get the same positive message about behavior expectations from every adult in the building.

Recess has changed somewhat at the elementary schools. Pence has gone to a staggered recess schedule, with only one grade level at a time on the playground instead of all grades at once.

Washington and Libertyville have added another adult to supervise recess, so now two teachers are outside at every recess.

FMS/FHS

Fairfield Middle School is increasing after-school clubs to help each student find at least one extra curricular activity to join, principal Laura Atwood told the board.

?We believe student achievement and self-confidence increase when students are involved,? she said.

The HVAC project at the middle school is 90 percent complete, McElwee said. ?Contractors are in the eighth grade classrooms on the north side and when they?re finished there, they?ll move to the south side, then we?ll be ready for punch lists,? he said.

Fairfield High School Principal Aaron Becker said a new program would begin this school year. Associate Principal Brian Stone and guidance counselors, along with Becker, will begin home visits with at-risk freshmen.

?We?ll want to talk with the family and student at home and ask how thing are going,? he said. ?We hope to build on this year to year.?

The board approved:

? A district Teacher Quality Committee for the 2012-13 school year with the following teachers ? Jim Edgeton, Kristen Septer, Jennifer Mangler, Billy Strickler, Jenny Christensen; and administrators Marci Dunlap, Art Sathoff, Laura Atwood, Brian Stone and Chris Welch. Each will be paid a stipend of $648.

? Teachers as mentors for first- and second-year teachers ? Brian Dunlap, Melinda Lyon, Tari Eeling, Sheryl Greiner, Taryn Ryan, Heidi Grunwald, Heather Buckley, Patti Johnston, Deanna Gevock, Billy Strickler, Ann Johnston, Fred Hucke, Rosemary Weiss, Heidi Bowman, Pat Rhinehart and Luyre Sobaski; each will be paid $1,000 for serving as a mentor teacher.

? Scott Slechta as district mentoring coordinator. He will be paid $1,500.

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Student involvement

Fairfield Middle School reports the following number of students involved in extra curricular activities:

26 eighth grade volleyball

20 players and one manager, seventh grade volleyball

65 (approximately) fifth and sixth graders, youth football

35 players and five managers, eighth grade football

39 seventh grade football

24 cross country

13 cheerleaders for fall cheerleading

55 different students participated in Drama Club at least once; average 25-30 per meeting

40 (approximately) sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in Jazz Band

40 students participated at least once in Book Club; average 20-25 per meeting

10-20 students from all middle school grades per meeting

New FMS clubs scheduled for this year:

Archery Club, working to find a place and volunteers to work with club

Astronomy Club, beginning soon

Fairfield High School reports the following number of students in fall activities:

123 marching band

76 varsity and junior varsity football

27 ninth grade football

28 varsity and junior varsity volleyball

15 ninth grade volleyball

17 girls cross country

16 boys cross country

13 swimming

21 football cheerleading