Mt. Pleasant Community School District to receive an estimated 1.27% increase in funding with SSA

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Community School District is looking at just a little over 1% increase in regular program dollars following the state Legislature's decision to pass a 2.3% supplemental state aid (SSA) rate.

Superintendent John Henriksen shared his calculations with the board on Monday evening, pointing out that the district currently operates with $13,223,360. The rate increase, coupled with a 20 student drop in enrollment from the previous year, the district is now looking at $13,391,906 in funding, a $168,546 increase.

Henriksen noted a 1% increase through the Budget Guarantee Program would be $132,234, which is less than the increase the district is already getting through the SSA rate.

'That $168,546 is 1.27% new money. We wish it was more but it's hard when you have declining enrollment and low SSA. It's just difficult to make much headway on that,” Henriksen said.

The board also heard from district nurses Sue Weiss and Jennifer Striegel, who gave updates on how the health services department is addressing concerns about the coronavirus.

Weiss and Striegel noted they are getting their information from the Iowa Department of Public Health and have participated in webinars the department has put on specifically for schools.

'A lot of things they told us to do is what you would do for any virus - wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose when you cough and sneeze,” Weiss said.

The nurses said they are in constant communication with Henry County Public Health and are keeping a close watch on things after three cases were confirmed in Iowa City.

'We put a letter out to parents and guardians, that's all we can do at this point. What we do from here really depends on what this virus does, where it goes, how it spreads,” Weiss added.

Following the update, board member Angie Blint asked about the prevalence of influenza in the district. Weiss and Striegel said all four elementary schools within the district reached 10% absenteeism at some point in February.

'Influenza, it's one of those viruses where coronavirus fits into all of that stuff, it's just the coronavirus is new and we don't have a vaccine for it yet, it'll be 18 months to two years before we can have one, so we encourage people to wash your hands, take care of yourself and get those flu shots,” Weiss answered.

The board also received an update on a newly purchased and adopted elementary math curriculum Ready Now. Kathleen Gavin, the director of curriculum and instruction, shared how the new curriculum comes with data collecting tools that allow teachers to more closely monitor a students progress and create more individualized lessons to address needs.

Currently, students of the district have taken two assessment tests with the new program, which is used to show areas where students are struggling or excelling in.

In demonstrating how the system works, Gavin shared the district's data with the board. The director of curriculum noted the goal is to get 80% of students 'in the green,” meaning at a proficient level.

'We're not there. Some reasons we're not there is because we were teaching math one way last year and we automatically said ‘hey, we're teaching math this way this year.' It's hard to make that transition. It's a different mind-set, it's a different way to teach it,” Gavin said.

The curriculum director noted the new program focuses on changing 'the dialogue around math and helping students really conceptualize what a number means.”

'It used to be about math sheets, kill and drill it. Now it's more about having a really solid sense of what representations are before getting to the procedural processes,” she added.

Before the switch at the beginning of this year, the district was using a curriculum that was copyrighted in 2010.

While the assessments show students aren't where the districts hopes to be, Gavin said the improvements students have shown in just the span of three months, from October to January, is very promising. The district went from 12% of students in the green to 32%, and reduced all of their high need areas. Gavin anticipates the district will be reaching their goal of 80% of students in the green within the next two to three years.

During the meeting, the board also approved a $430.696 purchase agreement with School Bus Sale Co. and an overnight trip request for the FFA State Convention from ag instructor Matthew Jones.