The Becker School Board met for the final summer session Monday and discussed preparations for the upcoming year, website authorization, student attendance,  wellness and   high school programming redesign, amongst other things.

 

Upcoming School Year

Dr. Stephen Malone said staff, teachers and school personnel are in final preparation mode for the upcoming school year and excited to welcome students back Sept. 5.

 

New teachers and those new to the school district will begin their teacher induction and mentorship program Aug. 23 with all staff members reporting Aug. 28.

 

Malone said the fall staff development schedule will focus on ensuring the use of effective instructional practices in all classrooms. He said this will include the instructional framework, course templates, MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Success), the teacher evaluation process, data review and student growth. 

 

Malone said the school will be emphasizing student attendance this year. The schedule is nearly finalized and will be distributed to staff and school board members next week.

 

The school board approved the adoption of revisions to the student attendance policy to reflect current practices. They also approved the revisions to the wellness policy to comply with USDA requirements. 

 

A new policy was adopted in regards to federal revenue sources and is required by the code of federal regulations. Malone says the school district auditors would cite the school district if this policy is not in place for the next audit. The policy, he says, provides guidance and procedures for administering federal grants.

 

Malone recommended the first readings for the following policies: Transportation of Public School Students, adding guidance about transportation for pre-kindergarten children with disabilities consistent with statutory language. It also adds statutory requirements for transporting homeless students; Advertising, amending restrictions on advertising placement to reflect statutory language; Internet Acceptable Use And Safety Policy, changing recommendations to reflect updates in technology and liability issues that have emerged since the policy was last updated in 2011.

 

MDE announced changes last month associated with transitioning from the Federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). 

 

These changes will require the schools to adjust the student achievement metric for the 2017-18 school board goals and beyond. Malone said Jean Duffy (Asst. Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction) and he will present more information at the meeting. 

 

The metric for the first and third goals the board agreed on last month will need to be adjusted to remove two goals and continue with the implementation of a sustainable mental health delivery model in each school.

 

The high school program design was reviewed by the board and changes were suggested. The program includes a list of team members, future trends, data on current enrollment trends, college and career readiness and expanding intervention programming to ensure academic growth for all students.

 

As part of the consent agenda, the board approved the following changes to personnel at all four schools: Brian Baloun was approved as being hired as assistant principal at the high school; Karilee Berthiaume was hired as administrative assistant in the primary school; Kelsey Berthiaume was hired as a paraprofessional in the primary school; Scott Brake was hired as junior high football coach for the middle school; Andrea Doom was hired as a reading teacher at the high school; Dawn Drayna was hired as a math interventionist at the middle school; Patrick Drury was hired as assistant boys cross country coach.

 

Deb Gunderson was hired as administrative assistant and as paraprofessional in the intermediate school; Alysha Hartkopf was hired as a paraprofessional  in the primary school; Timothy Hedden was hired as a reading specialist in the primary school; Connie Lindbom was hired as night custodian in the intermediate and high schools; Kayla McCall was hired as assistant gymnastics coach; Gretchen Pierce was hired as social studies long-term substitute at the high school; Cheri Sakry was hired as administrative assistant at the middle school; and Jackie Schulz was hired as a biology long-term substitute at the high school.

 

Randy Bruska resigned as bus driver, Jodi Friedl resigned as lunchroom supervisor at the primary school and Sandy Logrono resigned as principal at the high school.