Cottage Meeting April 25th

I was happy to have a good group at April's and my cottage meeting. Not counting myself there were 18 in attendance. I started out talking about my meeting with Senator Bair, which I have talked about in the previous post. I talked about not really knowing yet how our this years school budget would end up. I talked some about the things we have had to cut, like summer school, and with less teachers how we can't offer as many electives as we would like. I asked as we look forward are these the kind of things patrons would be willing to fund a Levey for. I really don't like the idea of not offering summer school anymore. I understand how summer school can help some kids get caught up in their reading skills. I know this from experience. I was young September born boy. I was also very stubborn and hated to read. I would just pretend to read in class which worked for awhile. Probably just long enough to get me behind in school. I remember having to go to summer school in Shelley to take reading lessons from Mrs. Berg. I can't remember how many years I had to do this, but it did have the desired effect on me. I am still not a big reader, but I was able to improve my skills to catch up with my class. If I hadn't had the opportunity to be in a summer reading program, I probably would have struggled all through school.

Well back to the meeting. We have three high school teachers teaching in the middle school to cover the reduced staff we have there. Because of this we can't offer as many electives as we would like to in the high school. I hope at some point we are able to receive more funding so we can provide more opportunities in the high school. If not before, I hope when the middle school bond levy expires in I think 2014, we can ask for a levy to better fund our schools. The bond is for I think $250,000 a year. That much would go a long ways toward improving our funding.

I talked some about my concerns how the online program might be harder on our budget through lost ADA funding. Having to pay someone outside our school to provide these classes. And the challenge of having someone able to help the kids with these classes.

We talked about the stories going around about someone in the high school selling prescription drugs. There were a lot of stories but not much facts. I hadn't heard anything from the school directly about this. There was some concern about if our school policies were followed dealing with this issue. But again, I didn't know so I couldn't comment. I have struggles to get information on matters like this. I think I should be well aware of these type of issues so when asked I can respond appropriately. I do have an update on this matter. I talked to Mr. Tubbs and he filled me in a lot more. My understanding is at least one student was giving some pain medication to other students that were complaining of being in pain. I don't know if any money changed hands or if the students involved truly understood how illegal this is. The police were called in, and they investigated this issue, so it's up to the authorities how this is dealt with. I would like to think this would be a good wake up call for these students, to set them straight.

There was a lot of comments about the discipline problems in mostly the middle school. Students seem to have little respect for some of the teachers and substitute teachers. There was talk of fights going on during the school day, and complaints that not much was being done about it. I won't get into a lot of  details that were brought up regarding this, but there is a growing concern among many how bad this is getting and what to do about it. There were stories how cell phone use in the high school is getting out of hand. A lot of students are texting in class, and someone said a mother called her daughter on her phone during class. The teacher would ask for the phone and the student would refuse to give it to her. There was concern that a lot of these problems were caused because of a lack of parent involvement and  the lack of discipline and respect taught from their homes. There was a discussion of ideas of how to teach kids to have more respect for others. There was also concern about what the school policies are on matters like this, and if they are followed, and if discipline is applied fairly between students. April and I plan on studying this better ourselves to see if we need to have better defined policies. There was also concern brought up how many times when a school administrator was needed to deal with these issues they were not in the building. I think most of this problem is because of the multiple duties our administrators have.

There was a suggestion that Title I money could be spent to better educate parents about discipline matters in the grades K-8. I need to understand more about this funding. I have been reading some information about the use of these funds that was sent to me. I do know this money has been cut too. I will have questions about this during our next board meeting, so I can understand how we use this fund.

There was also a concern about the school dress policy. Some were saying kids are coming to school dressed very inappropriately, and that not much was being done about this. I need to find out how the school handles this also and if we need to encourage better compliance and enforcement.

I asked about the school calendar for next year. Those present seemed to support the original plan that was presented by the calendar committee. There were many objections to the idea of going to school after Memorial Day.

There was concerns that in some classes  teachers aren't getting through the curriculum fast enough, especially math classes. Those who brought this up think it is because of not adjusting very well to the four day schedule. This is very important in many ways, one being that students need to be at a certain point in the year before they take the ISAT tests. If they are behind they won't understand all the concepts that are tested.

Another follow-up from my last post about Pay For Performance. When I talked to Mr. Tubbs, he assured me what we have done following the state plan this year is okay. There won't be an issue of not developing this plan further as a district. If we want to do our own plan which I think we do we will have to work on this pretty soon for next year. Some of what Mr. Tubbs said about this is very different than what Senator Bair said. I plan on investigating this further to better understand how this works and reconcile for myself the differences in what I was told.

During the meeting some parents expressed concern their children were not getting the proper help they need to succeed in school. They felt the school was slow to react to resolve the problems they were having. I hope this situation will improve and will try and encourage a better response to these parents.

There were a couple more things brought up in private that April and I plan on dealing with during a board executive session.

I feel like it was a good meeting and I am glad we did it. I think most present thought it was worth their time. I assured everyone we would follow-up on the concerns that were brought up. I think the input we received will provide a good board discussion at our next meeting. Thank you. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Brian Esplin