MP School Board talks summer school, budget cuts

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

Talk of summer school filed the bulk of Monday night?s meeting of the Mt. Pleasant School Board.

Lori LaFrenz, Principal of Lincoln Elementary, proposed a new model of summer school for elementary aged students. The proposed summer school model would be for second and first grade students who are identified as substantially deficient on the Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers (FAST).

?With ELI (Early Literacy Implementation) legislation and the possibility of third grade retention, we need a summer school that is targeted and establishes criteria that qualifies students for it,? said LaFrenz.

With ELI, at the end of third grade, if students are not proficient in reading and did not attend the summer reading program, which will become mandatory by May 1, 2017, they can be retained.

Eligibility requirements for the summer school program include a student being substantially deficient on FAST, which means ?they have not met the bench mark two or more testing periods.? FAST tests three times a year.

LaFrenz said the proposed summer school would be able to accept 60 students. The first round selections for summer school students will be second graders who are substantially deficient, followed by first graders in a similar position. LaFrenz said second round picks, if there were room available, would be at-risk students. The at-risk students are individuals who have shown significant ?summer loss.? ?In other words, ? La Frenz said, ?by the bench mark period, they have not either caught up with their spring bench mark or they have just caught up.?

Students would be in class from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Monday through Thursday, and would be in class two weeks and off one week. An 85 percent attendance rate would be mandatory.

LaFrenz said one of the challenges she?s facing right now is finding a facility to host the summer school, as the elementary schools are not air-conditioned. LaFrenz said she had reached out to the Mt. Pleasant Christian School, but had not heard anything back due to spring break. LaFrenz added FCOC would be a second option.

School Board Vice President Karl Braun asked why the activities couldn?t take place in the middle school. LaFrenz replied besides moving all of the educational material, they would have to move child sized chairs and desks, but that still left water fountains and toilets too big for a young child?s use.

LaFrenz said funding for summer school would come from Title I funds.

Summer school was not an actionable item Monday night. Board President David McCoid ask LaFrenz to come back during the April 11 meeting with a more detailed plan, including facility and transportation costs.

Also during the meeting, the board discussed budget reduction options.

Interim Superintendent John Roederer presented 16 reduction options to the board, all totaled would save the district approximately $540,889. The options included reducing the Board of Education?s expenditures by $27,000; reducing a half-time elementary teacher at Salem, $22,105; eliminating a elementary principal, $106,950; reducing four teachers (one in each core subject), $198,000; reallocating dollars from technology services, $15,000; and reducing a half-time elementary special education teacher, $22,105.

Roederer also suggested eliminating French, which would save the district $22,105, but not until fiscal year 2018, and the transfer of software expenditures, but that would only be a temporary savings of $60,124.

Other reductions included removing stipends from the director of special education and Title I, a lead teacher in Salem, an administrator at WisdomQuest and coordinator stipends for English Language Leaners and preschool.

Roederer said when it comes to stipends, those are items embedded in employee contracts and notifications of contract changes must be made before April 1.

Ed Chabal, board secretary, said employees would be issued a notification of the termination of their current contract, as the stipends are part of the contract. From there, a new contract would be issued with their new duties.

Chabal added that even if the board eventually decides to takes no action on an employee?s contract this year, a notification must be sent out.

Monday night, the board also received the first glimpse of the 2016-17 calendar.

The school year will begin on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016, and will end on Wednesday, May 31, 2017. Thanksgiving break will be from Nov. 23 to Nov. 27, 2016, and winter break will span Dec. 21, 2016 to Jan. 3, 2017. Classes will begin at 8:15 a.m., depending on bus schedule, and end at 3:15 p.m.

According to Iowa Code, the calendar must have a public hearing before being adopted. The board set the public hearing for April 11, 2016, at 6:30 p.m., in the High School media center.

In other business, the board:

? Opted out of the Universal Breakfast Program. Buildings will still serve breakfast, however.

? Approved the resignations of Laura Moore, Salem one-on-one Paraeducator, effective March 15; Paige Kinney, High School Paraeducator, effective March 18; Vivian Baxter, Harlan Paraeducator, effective end of the school year; Andrew Grove, High School vocal teacher, effective end of the school year.

The next meeting of the Mt. Pleasant School Board will be Monday, April 11, 2016, at 6 p.m., in the High School media center.