Online school, retirement on MAC board agenda
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The board of directors of the Mount Ayr Community Schools met in regular session Monday, December 9. Discussion items included the establishment of a new online school, early retirement incentives for district employees, and review of the elementary school’s Performance Profile results.
Online school
Superintendent Jason Shaffer presented a proposal for a new online option for students in grades 9-12.
The “Evolve” program would offer a full online curriculum to not only Mount Ayr students but also to students from outside the school district to complete their high school graduation requirements.
Mount Ayr currently offers its students a similar online option, but with state approval, the program would be opened up to attract students to enroll from other districts as well as from homeschool settings. Out-of-district students who enroll in Evolve could be counted under Mount Ayr’s student head count, thus increasing the district’s per pupil state aid total. This year, state aid equals $7,864 per student.
In addition, this year Mount Ayr has a number of students who have left the district to open-enroll into other online programs, and the goal would be to allow those students to come back under Mount Ayr’s head count as well.
Evolve students would be allowed to participate in Mount Ayr school activities with certain limitations.
Another benefit would be that Mount Ayr administration could better monitor student academic progress before students fell behind in their coursework to graduation.
The board approved seeking state approval for offering the Evolve program to out-of-district students.
Early retirement
As it does each year, the policy to offer early-retirement incentives to district certified and non-classified staff was on the minds of school board members.
The chief decision comes down to whether early-retirement incentives at all, or to offer them only on a year-to-year basis.
Supertintendent Shaffer explained that in years past, teaching vacancies left open from early retirement could be filled with younger teachers whose salaries would provide a cost saving to the district.
Today, with fewer young people going into education, those open vacancies must often be filled with veteran teachers whose salaries are comparable with those of the retired teachers.
Shaffer emphasized a main benefit to an early-retirement incentive is to allow administration a head start to finding a replacement for the upcoming school year. Deadline for applying for early-retirement is January 31.
Shaffer said the district currently had four certified positions and six classified positions that would qualify for the policy’s guidelines for years of service.
Another consideration is whether early-retirement compensation would fall under the category of an incentive or a benefit. If considered an incentive, the compensation could be paid from the management fund, which by Iowa code is reserved for insurance and a small number of other expenses. If considered a benefit, the compensation would come out of the general fund, which includes salaries.
After considerable discussion, the board approved contiuing the early retirement as an incentive for this school year.
Elementary performance
In his report to the board, elementary principal Chris Elwood reviewed the results from elementary students on the state’s Performance Profile. He walked board members through the seven different measurements to arrive at the school’s “Commendable” rating.
He explained MAC elementary students performed above state averages on six of the seven measurements, with proficiency in English/Language Arts (ELA) as the only area below state percentages. He emphasized, however, MAC elementary scored significantly higher in the “Growth in ELA” category, so students are making progress toward achieving proficiency in that area.
Elwood highlighted a previously unpublicized factor in arriving at the elementary rating.
The Performance Profile defines “chronic absenteeism” as those students who miss 10 percent or more of scheduled school days over a two-year period.
However, in order for the “attendance growth” measurement to be factored into a school’s performance, 20 or more students must meet the “chronic absentee” threshold. Otherwise, the “attendance growth” factor is ignored in the scoring, and the weighting for “chronic absenteeism” is doubled.
Mount Ayr elementary had 19 students who would qualify as “chroically absent” over that span.
Therefore, with the score for “attendance growth” removed, Elwood estimates the elementary’s overall score should have been calculated at over 72 percent, rather than 68.78 percent as published in the profile.
The 72 percent number would have pushed Mount Ayr elementary into the “High Performing” category rather the “Commendable” category.
Other business
In other business the board:
- re-elected PJ West as board president, Russ Schuitema as vice president, and retained board meetings on the second Monday of each month beginning at 5:30 p.m.
- was reminded the middle/high school Winter Concert will be held Monday, December 16 and the elementary’s K-5 Winter Concert will be held Tuesday, December 17 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
- approved the SBBC allowable growth request for $67,736 for students who open-enrolled out of the district.
- approved a bid from Riddell for 60 new helmets at $110 per helment and 60 shoulder pads at $50 per set for the
- Junior Raider program with costs to be covered by the Junior Raiders.
- approved a request for drop out intervention allowable growth for $229,810.
- approved a Memo of Understanding with Ringgold County Hospital to assist with costs for the school’s Certified Nursing Assistant program.
- approved the hiring of Carrie Head as an elementary specical education teacher pending her certification.
- approved the resignations of Andy Clark and Tracy Wilson as elementary associates.
