The potential donation of $350,000 to the Perry Community School District by the VanKirk family in honor of the late Dallas “Pete” VanKirk rightly generated many headlines, but several other important matters were also tackled by the Board of Education at their Monday meeting.
The budget for fiscal year 2018 was approved using a 1.1 percent allowable growth. No comments were received during a public hearing that began the meeting. The tax rate for the PCSD is set at $21.51 for each $1,000 of assessed property value.
Laura Skeel, director of learning supports, informed the board that the formula used to determine how many special needs students can be on each teacher’s roster has been simplified.
“The old process was very subjective,” Skeel said, “and while you want some flexibility there have to be some set guidelines so you know where you are at with each teacher. Each teacher is allowed a certain number of points on their roster, and you can have a student who just needs a little direction count as two points and one who has discipline problems count as many as eight or 10 points. The new service plan will help simplify the process of determining those points.”
Middle School Dean of Students Carol Ryerson introduced several English Language Learner (ELL) instructors who had recently attended an AEA-funded five-day ELL conference in Seattle.
Melanie Harmon discussed what she learned about the best use of classroom time in a block-scheduling environment, especially as it relates to homework.
“Often a student will try to do exercises at home and won’t have anybody there who can answer their questions or help them,” Harmon said. “What we want is for the students to be doing those things in the classroom, where they can practice words and ask questions and be helped, which has a real impact on their confidence.”
Emi Einck and Cindy Jafvert each said they had learned quite a bit and that the conference was, in Jafvert’s words, “five days of learning, learning and more learning.”
Jordan Siler talked about the unique challenges presented by students who have their school years interrupted for one reason or another.
“Maybe they have moved from one district to another, have just come into a district, or have missed a great amount of time by being out of the country,” Siler said. “That can have a real impact and almost always means they are going to fall far behind in math and reading, especially if they are also trying to learn these things in a new language. Picking up ideas on how to meet those kinds of challenges was, I thought, very helpful.”
Others spoke of a unique approach that utilizes American Sign Language to help students increase their vocabulary and proficiency, noting that learning some things with ASL adds another layer of recognition to words and their proper use.
After hearing a legislative update from Superintendent Lynn Ubben, the board was addressed by Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson, who discussed the continuing storm sewer work associated with the North Street and 18th Street construction projects.
The city requested, and received, a construction easement from the district for installing an underground stormwater pipe that will run under parts of the Perry Athletic Complex and affect mostly the golf driving range. The board approved the easement contingent upon no further cost be accrued by the district.
St. Patrick’s Catholic Middle School teacher Darcy Spellman asked the board to approve the use of a Perry school bus and driver to transport St. Patrick’s students to the World War I Museum in Kansas City.
Interstate trips require board approval, which was given, and St. Patrick’s will reimburse the district for all costs of the trip.
Also addressing the board was Dave Pratt, who presented, and had approved, the Perry High School Art Charter. Pratt has conducted an inventory of art owned by PHS, noting the 126 pieces range in value “from less than $10 to some worth more than $3,000.”
The board also approved a cooperative agreement with AEA Purchasing for food purchases, accepted routine changes to a series of policies, consented to several personnel matters and agreed to the Support Staff Roster for 2017-2018.
A request was presented to the board for the transfer $1,000 from a donation received from the Atlantic Bottling Company to the PHS Musical account, as the recent production of “Peter Pan” had put a strain on the department’s budget. The board approved the transfer after saluting the music and drama departments on their recent production.
The Perry School Board meets the second Monday of each month at 6 p.m. in the Brady Library in Perry High School. The public is invited to attend.
