Summary from December 9, 2008
Rock Island High School PSAE Report and School Improvement PlanDirector of Instruction and Assessment Ken Jaeke presented information on the 2008 Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) results to the Board. The exam is given to all Rock Island High School Juniors each spring. The test results show that trends for Reading and Math have been consistent since 2001. For 2008 reading came in at 45% and math at 43%. The achievement gap data revealed a large difference between the ethnic breakdowns in reading and math. Mr. Jaeke said it is of great concern to the district and progress is needed in all areas.The Rock Island High School Improvement Plan presented by Principal Robert Mason and Associate Principal set PSAE goals for 2008-09 year at the NCLB mandated 70% meets/exceeds for both reading and math. The plan includes using data teams to track student performance on a regular basis, scheduling more co-teaching between regular students and special ed, use Plato software for credit recovery and skill building, promote Lights on for Learning After School tutoring and “double-dose†reading and math skills within the Freshman Academy. Also starting at the Freshman level, the high school is raising the rigor of studies by requiring 4 years of reading, 4 years of math, 3 years of science and 3 years of social studies.District Web Site PresentationThe school district’s Web site got a brief review from Director of Instructional Technology Mike Breidenstein and the school district Marketing Director Holly Sparkman. The new Web site at www.rockislandschools.org was a part of the school district’s Strategic Marketing Plan that was developed to enhance the image of the Rock Island – Milan School District. Mr. Breidenstein gave a tour of the site structure and highlighted special features such as the ability for many users to update the content in individual school sites and the new contact area that allows an email to go directly to each person without having the email address displayed. The new athletic site allows each coach to update their respective areas and contains streaming videos from other local news sites through a mutual agreement. Ms. Sparkman commented on the value of the upgraded Web site, which enhances the credibility of the district.Building Excellence UpdateGreg Larrison of Larrison and Associates Architects presented the additions and remodel for Frances Willard and Denkmann Elementary schools. Frances Willard will receive two additional classrooms, restrooms, new cafeteria, small instruction space, office remodel and storage. The new addition, which will contain the new cafeteria and classrooms, will be placed on the northeast section of the building and will relocate some of the parking to the west side of the building. The new cafeteria space will seat 168 students and make the north end more functional for extra curricular activities. The main entrance will be back to the west side through a secure, controlled entrance. The original budget of $1,162,500 million was exceeded by $137,000.The Denkmann Elementary addition and remodel consists of a new cafeteria, small group instructional space, storage and office remodel. The addition will be placed on the northwest are of the existingbuilding and contain the new cafeteria which will seat 176 students. The addition will incorporate solar features placed on the south side of the section. The parking area on the north side of the building will be reworked to allow one-way passage for vehicles. The total budget for the project came in at $900,000 which is $60,000 less than the original figure.At a previous board meeting, Associate Superintendent Mike Oberhaus discussed the impact of the current state of the economy on the Building Excellence plan. The original Building Excellence plan required use of $11 million of the District’s reserves. Given that the economy is experiencing a downturn, a review was needed to determine if such a use of the reserves was still in the best interest of the District.The current Tier One projects (New School, Academy, Eugene Field, Longfellow) to date have totaled $19,612,300. The remaining projects (Ridgewood, Thomas Jefferson, Frances Willard, Denkmann, Earl Hanson, Edison, Washington, High School Café & Kitchen) cost estimates per the original Building Excellence plan total $13,080,875.Superintendent Loy recommended completing all of the projects except the high school new central kitchen and cafeteria remodel. He also made a recommendation to scale back the Ridgewood and Thomas Jefferson projects and turn them into a two-phase process in which the new media centers and office space will be completed at a later date. In the original plans, media centers for the two buildings were not included. These changes would reduce the remaining budget to $7,599,055. By accepting the recommendation, $5 million dollars of reserves will not be used for the building projects, but be available to help weather the current economic downturn. Currently, the reserves are at $29 million.These recommendations will still allow the district to carry out the Building Excellence plan andcomplete projects in a manageable time frame.Naming of New SchoolBoard members revisited the naming of the New School narrowed the list to three names:
- Center for Math & Science
- Eagle Bluff Center of Math & Science
- Robinson Math & Science Academy
A date for the final selection has not been determined, however further discussion will be presented at aJanuary board meeting.