School board shares wish list

Fairfield school board members worked through written training exercises together Tuesday, and with direction from a facilitator, shared information around the table at a board work session meeting.

Board Development Director Mary Jane Vens from the Iowa Association of School Boards, Des Moines, came to Fairfield at the invitation of Superintendent Art Sathoff and board president Jennifer Anderson.

Vens asked everyone to envision steps, ideas, or changes that would make Fairfield school district an award-winning district.

Jeremy Miller would like to see smaller class sizes, more technology incorporated into the classrooms and stronger community support for the schools.

Jeri Kunkle also would like ?total community support of public education. Then we could get a bond passed, make our high school more conducive to learning, and provide air conditioning,? she said. ?I?d like if the community understood the district?s needs.

?And I?d ask for intense professional development of ?best practices? for teachers,? Kunkle said.

Vens suggested board members ?draw a picture? of district needs for the community if they want public understanding. She pointed out Amy Miller?s description of facility needs as a good example.

?We need better facilities that are ADA compliant,? Amy Miller said. ?We need facilities that allow students to feel they are a part of the school. How does it feel to have to enter through the back of the school each time because the front entrance won?t accommodate a wheel chair? How does it make a student feel to need a staff member to carry them down the stairs to the basement in a tornado drill? Some students have to be taught in closets to accommodate their special needs.?

She also would like smaller teacher/student ratios, ?Teachers don?t have the time to give individual attention,? and more parental involvement.

?Parents should volunteer in the schools to know what?s going on,? she said.

Vens said, ?You as a board, nor the superintendent, can go into homes and tell parents how to live or interact with school. You need to focus on what you can control. You have control over the time students are in class. That?s your focus.?

Bob Waugh would like a smaller student/teacher ratio. And he shared a perspective that?s personally changed over time.

?When I first heard about year-round school, I thought it was a bad idea. I grew up on a farm,? he said. ?I worked summers earning money to be able to attend school the next year. Well, it?s not like that anymore. If we kept students in school year-round, we could teach more basics. Technology is great, but kids need the basics. In helping out with 4-H, I see so many kids lacking basic skills.?

Technology can be used to teach those basics, Vens pointed out.

Rich Metcalf said the student/teacher ratio should be lower, especially in the primary grades.

?And I?d like to get students, teachers and administrators all on the same page so we could get a bond issue passed,? said Metcalf.

Teachers need more time for students? individual needs, because the population of special needs keeps growing, said Jerry Nelson.

?As for facilities, if we had started fixing things as we went along, or even 10 years ago, we?d be in better shape,? said Nelson. ?I want the best possible learning environment at the best cost.?

That?s what the community needs to understand from the board, said Vens, the part about cost effectiveness.

Anderson wants every teacher addressing the best way to teach each student.

?I think our class sizes are OK,? she said. ?And I want each student to have a positive environment at home. I want to create the perfect learning facility, and for the district to have unlimited resources.?

Vens said she heard several board members mention student/teacher ratios, with only Anderson not concerned about class sizes.

?Actually, studies show it isn?t class size that matters for effective learning as much as a teacher?s ability to adapt teaching styles for every student,? said Vens.

Sathoff said his vision for an award-winning district includes ?eradicating drug and alcohol abuse; to have broad, systematic supports in place to support students? academic, psychological, physical and social needs; and to have a financially sound district.

?We began using RTI, Response to Intervention tool last year,? said Sathoff. ?I?d like up-to-date 21st century facilities and technology for the district. We strive to hire, train, retrain and reward the highest qualified teachers.?