W-MU adds a new face to the board, gets right to work on new school year

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

WINFIELD ? There?s one new face to the Winfield-Mt. Union Board of Education.

Stacey Buffington took her seat along side returning board members, Klay Edwards, Jay Nelson and Dan Schurr, who were all re-elected following the school board election on Sept. 8. The board, including Joy Sparrow, who was not up for re-election this year, met Wednesday night for an organizational meeting.

Edwards was re-elected as board president and Schurr took the vice president position.

Edwards took a brief moment to thank John Vantiger, the former vice president, for his service to the W-MU Community School District.

?Thanks for letting me serve,? said Vantiger, who lost by 20 votes to Nelson for the At-Large seat. ?It was actually a lot of fun.?

Once the board jumped into the meeting, they approved submitting a School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) Allowable Growth Request for Special Education deficit. Business Manager Carmen Benson said the request would be for $14,633.56.

?This is not a bad thing,? said Superintendent Jeff Maeder. ?It means we?re providing a service to our kids and it?s not unusual to be at a deficit.?

During school reports, Elementary Principal Gabe Wylder shared that he is currently interviewing individuals for the English-language learners (ELL) position. Wylder said there are a lot of new requirements for ELL teachers.

?There are new state standards that were just adopted for the ELL program so I am overseeing that program until we have an ELL teacher,? he said.

During his reports, Wylder added the fall round of universal screening for reading and math proficiency has begun. ?There?s a couple of different screeners,? said Wylder. ?We have STAR, that?s first through 12th grade students for reading and math, and then with state mandates for ELI (Early Literacy Implementation) for Kindergarten through third grade.?

Wylder said one of the biggest pieces the board needs to be aware of is in the year 2017, there is a component for third grade retention.

According to the ELI website, effective May 1, 2017, any student who is not proficient in reading by the end of the third grade, did not attend the summer reading program, and does not qualify for a good cause exemption may be retained, or held back.

Wylder said as testing through ELI is done, if a student is deemed ?deficient? a letter will be sent home to parents.

?After two consecutive screening periods, fall and winter, if a student does not demonstrate proficiency on that screener, there is a state expectation that a letter is sent home to parents (stating) that their student is substantially deficient in reading,? said Wylder. ?That term is state required. We can?t change that language so I want you to be aware of that.?

Wylder said when the round of letters went out last year; phone calls were made to parents prior to give them a heads up. ?We wanted them (parents) to know why the letters were being sent out and that we weren?t trying to demean children in our district,? he said.

During the secondary education report, High School Principal Dave Edwards said overall, students ACT scores have been up over the last four years. The average went from 18.8 to 21.7. The highest ACT score possible is 36.

Edwards said W-MU?s average is still a little shy of the state average, but he is hopeful those scores can be increased. He added that last year, 22 out of 37 seniors took the ACT. The school is currently offering a John Baylor ACT Prep class. ?We have kids interested enough to take it, I want to make sure they do well,? he said.

In other business, the board:

? Adopted Roberts Rules as the Rules of Conduct for meetings.

? Set meeting time at 6 p.m., on the second Wednesday of the month.

? Selected People?s State Bank, Pilot Grove Bank and Bankers Trust as the official depositories for the school with a limit of $2 million each.

? Chose the Winfield Beacon, Morning Sun News Herald and the Mt. Pleasant News as the official newspapers for notifications for the school district.

? Appointed Drew Bracken as the attorney for the school.

? Approved participation in the Iowa Drug and Alcohol Testing Program for 2015-16.

The next meeting of the W-MU school board will be Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m., in the school library.