The majority of time spent in discussion by the Becker School Board Monday centered around policy reviewals and preparing kids and families in what to expect when entering high school, planning for graduation and preparing for higher education.

 

College and Career Readiness

Principal Sandy Logrono and Vice Principal Mark Kolbinger gave a presentation on college and career readiness for students.

 

Kolbinger talked about the five pillars  of Ramp Up To Readiness (RU2R) which includes academic, admissions, career, financial and personal (social) readiness.

 

For academic, Kolbinger focused on the ability to succeed in first-year, credit bearing courses at a technical college, a community college or a four-year university. He also pointed out there are high-skill jobs that do not require a college degree that pay well and offer opportunities for advancement. He also said the same is true for students entering the military. 

 

For admissions, Kolbinger highlighted a student’s ability to meet admissions requirements at a variety of institutions. He said many high school students choose colleges for which they are academically over-qualified or under-qualified. The top six reasons students drop out of college are they are recruited by other job/institution, have an unexpected bad grade, have roommate conflicts, lose financial aid, became clinically depressed and some see a large increase in tuition/living costs.

 

For career readiness, Kolbinger said the idea is to  identify careers that match personal, financial and other goals while having an understanding of the skills, credentials and experiences required to succeed in those careers. Career readiness, Kolbinger said, is defined as identifying a career interest (career cluster) and meeting two of the behavioral and experiential benchmarks listed below:

 

• 90% attendance

 

• 25 hours of community service

 

• Workplace learning environment

 

• Industry credential

 

• Dual credit career pathway course

 

• Two or more organized co-curricular activities.

 

For financial readiness, students and families need the ability to cover the cost of the first term of study at a postsecondary institution through savings, loans and financial aid.  Ramp up focuses on the postsecondary financials, but includes curriculum and research regarding creating a personal budget, producing a realistic plan for financing postsecondary programs, good debt versus bad debt, and completing the FAFSA process.  

 

Kolbinger says Becker High School augments this greatly with additional curriculum in advisory (including curriculum and presentations from financial industry professionals), 10th grade economics and the personal finance elective course. 

 

And for personal and social readiness, Kolbinger says the RU2R program sets educational goals, makes and monitors progress towards them and creates relationships with peers and adults that support academic success. 

 

Those goals are defined by students to leave high school with the perseverance to achieve their goals with a mindset to approach their future with confidence. These skills include personal accountability, interpersonal skills, seeking help/self advocacy when it is needed (for high achieving students as well), and time management. 

 

Logrono talked about RU2R in relation to grades 9-12 and how Becker High School “personalizes” the RU2R activities by adding their own agenda to various programs.

 

Logrono and Kolbinger identified the 25 most-commonly attended institutions for Becker graduates with St. Cloud Tech, SCSU, North Dakota State, U of M-Duluth, Bemidji, UND, Winona, Minnesota State-Mankato, U fo M-Mpls. and Alexandria Tech colleges being the top 10.

 

Dr. Stephen Malone gave his supervisory report which included the following:

 

• Staff is preparing for the upcoming school year and are excited to welcome students Sept. 6;

 

• New teachers and those new to the school district will begin their teacher induction and mentorship program Aug. 24 with all staff members reporting on Aug. 29;

 

• The fall staff development schedule will focus on every student making one year of academic growth emphasizing PLCs, the instructional framework, course templates, MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Success), the teacher evaluation process, data review, and student growth; 

 

• High school staff will visit SCTCC as part of the fall staff development program. The schedule is nearly finalized and will be distributed to staff and school board members next week;

 

• The filing period for affidavits of candidacy for the office of school board members begins Aug. 2 and closes Aug. 16. The terms for Ross Demant, Jason Kindred and Lori Molus will expire at the end of this year. The general election is Tues., Nov. 8. Three school board members will be elected for terms of four years each;

 

• The state MCA proficiency data was released last week and Malone said he was proud to see BHS continue its tradition of educational excellence. Becker surpassed the state average in every grade level for every test (reading, math, and science.) Furthermore, most grade levels improved the number of students proficient in comparison to last year.

 

Due to the 2014 legislation approving medical cannabis, several policies were in need of updating and they were presented to the board for review. Additional language was added to five policies that include drug and alcohol testing, chemical use and abuse, drug free workplace/drug free schools, student discipline and student medication.

 

Malone said he received no input from the public on three policies in relation to disability discrimination, child neglect or physical/sexual abuse and the mandated reporting of maltreatment of vulnerable adults. All three policies were adopted.

 

The September school board meeting is Sept. 12 because of Labor Day. A workshop has been put on the calendar for Wed. Sept. 14 at 6 :30 p.m.