Thoms Scholarship Finalists and Winner Anna Pienta
Dr. Deb Bracke presented Thoms Family Scholarship finalists Anna Pienta, Jazmin Taylor, Travontae Williams and Sarah Diamond. The scholarship has been in existence for the last 6 years and there have been over 30 projects completed through the program. The students gave presentations about their projects to the board. Anna Pienta was announced as the $5,000 award winner. Read the news story >>
Reports from Board Members
Linda Dothard Linda Dothard attended the Illinois School District Liquid Asset Fund meeting last week. She also attended two Martin Luther King Jr. Celebrations – one at Augustana College and one at Second Baptist Church. Several of our students received awards. The Rock Island High School performing group Sankofa will be presenting a play on Feb. 4th at 5:00 p.m. and on Feb. 5 at 6:00 p.m. Students work very hard to put on a good production. Earl Strupp attended the Head Start monthly meeting. He feels that it is an amazing organization and brings many people together from throughout the community all for the benefit of young children. President Cleaver took a couple of moments to discuss communication protocol. He reminded people to send inquiries of communication to Holly Sparkman; if someone wants to know about school district, contact Dr. Oberhaus, and inquiries regarding the Board of Education should go to Mr. Cleaver as the spokesperson for the board.
Reports from Student Board Members
Zavier Clark commented on the recent media attention regarding the budget recommendations. Someone is always adversely affected. Three students (Sam Ferry, Zavier Clark, Devin Radloff) wrote an editorial to the Dispatch/Argus addressing the confusion. “Civic duty to make sure we get clear information and that is correct.” Mr. Clark also reported that the high school hall sweeps are going well, everyone is getting to class on time. The order of the school has improved. Thanked Mr. Mason for doing his best to improve the climate at the school. The Wizard of OZ auditions will be in two weeks. Student Member Sam Ferry touched upon the status of the id policy. Most students have the occasional mistakes, however it has gotten a bit better. The Interact Club will be presenting a $600 check on Friday to the Centro Maya project (a humanitarian aid organization). The Club has held many fundraisers for the cause. Jazmin Taylor reported that the Lady Rocks have another home game this Thursday against Moline – please come out and support our team!
Superintendent Report
At the last meeting, Edison Jr. High presented their robot from the Lego League competition. The students sent a card of thanks to the board. Earl Hanson Elementary is celebrating 40 years of learning and are having an event on Friday, Feb. 25. The school will have an assembly at 2:30 p.m. and then Open House 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. School alumni and staff are invited to attend.
Scorecard Update
Members of the Cabinet reported on the School District’s Scorecard. Attendance figures superceded the target by 2% and landed at 95.03%. Students with less than 2 referrals is at 86.1%, which is an improvement over last year of 85.6%. Students with Out of School Suspensions is at 94%, an improvement over last year, and 16 students were placed in Special Ed over last years 19. Over the last year the Special Ed process has been improved and district teams assess a student needs and work to meet those needs before placing them in Special Ed. Loss time injuries are at 4 for the year and there are two areas of concern: strains and slips/falls. There has been 58 days of work lost related to those injuries. The district currently has 147 days Cash On Hand.
School Improvement Plans
Denkmann Elementary
Principal John Frieden reported on the Denkmann Elementary School Improvement Plan. For the past three years Reading, Math and behavior have been the main goals. Reading and math fell short of the school target goal of 90% meets/exceeds (82.3% meets/exceeds in Reading and 86.4% meets/exceeds). The school met their goal of having almost 94% with zero office referrals. This year, the school adopted the Math Trailblazers curriculum. The school also reviewed PBIS practices and created a “universal” system for the entire school.
Earl Hanson Elementary
Principal Deb Taber reported on the Earl Hanson Elementary School Improvement Plan. The daily attendance rate reached 96% for the year and 88% of the students received no office referrals. Math and reading scores need improvement, however the school has been successful at closing the gaps between subgroups. The school has also implemented the Math Trailblazers Curriculum. Best Practices include using Balanced Literacy/Balanced math framework and using Character Counts program. Academic intervention is also provided two days a week and 50-70 of the students participate.
2011-12 Budget Reduction Plan
Since the last board meeting on January 11 there have been two changes to the revenue figures. The district will see additional TIF revenue of $250,000 and an extra $1,000,000 due to the passed income tax legislation from the State of Illinois. The proposed changes in expenditures that the board reviewed at the previous meeting has been broken down into Tier I and Tier II categories. View Tier I and Tier II recommendations >>
The board will plan to take action on Feb. 22 to accept the Tier I recommendations. Tier II is not recommended for implementation. View the Superintendent’s presentation >>
Three people commented to the Board of Education regarding the Head Start program. There was a concern that combining all school district early childhood programs would be detrimental to the Head Start program. A representative of the Head Start Policy Council asked that the policy council be included in any future restructuring plans.
Tags: budget, Scorecard, Thoms Scholarship