The Perry Community School District Board of Education heard from a wide variety of presenters at their May meeting Monday, a gathering that lasted beyond the two-hour mark.
PACES director Mary Hillman was first to address the board. Several first and second-grade PACES students were on hand to demonstrate the various skills they are learning using the mini I-Pads recently purchased with a $4,800 grant from the Dallas County Foundation.
“We were able to acquire 17 mini I-Pads with the funding,” Hillman noted. “PACES has been able in the past years to collect upwards of $51k worth of funds through various grants and awards. Each grant we receive helps give us the opportunity to attract even more grants as we can mention those when approaching other funding sources.”
A series of teachers and instructors addressed the board as part of the Elementary Principal’s Report. PES principal Trevor Miller and assistant principal Joel Martin first introduced A.E.A. Instructional Coach Robin Koskovich, who reported on the increasing levels of success in having elementary students reach the established benchmark of 80 percent in each grade in regard to word comprehension proficiency.
The board then heard from kindergarten teacher Linda Huntington, second grade teacher Torey Olson, third grade teacher Ali Tibbles and fourth grade teachers Elizabeth Marburger and Nicole Myers.
Marburger reported on a field trip the fourth grade had taken to the Neal Smith Wildlife Preserve near Prairie City, where the students were able to plant seeds for a variety of native plants while observing several bison that live on the preserve.
She noted the fourth grade had been working hard on writing comprehensive paragraphs and were learning how to write topic sentences.
There are currently five sections of fourth grade students, but, with a large class one year away, the district will need to add a section for the 2015-16 school year.
Technology Director Rich Nichols presented the board with a detailed report on the 1-on-1 laptop program currently in use by middle and high school classes.
A total of 2,071 devices of various forms are available for student use. Of the 1,080 laptop computers in grades 6-12 (sixth grade is the first year in which students are allowed to take their laptop home) some 70 were damaged and six were lost or missing for a variety of reasons, at a cost to the district of $34k, a number Nichols noted was approximately what had been anticipated when the program began.
“We used to charge up to $100 to repair them, but decided to make cost $25 no matter what the issue was,” Nichols said. “We did this because we found many families could not afford the $100 or were afraid of bringing the units in. What has happened is that, now that we are charging a flat $25, we are actually collecting much more in fees than we were when it was set at $100.”
Nichols noted that a recent poll showed of 43 teachers using the laptops reported that 90.7 percent had a positive view of the program and that 9.3 percent had both favorable and negative views. None of the 43 considered the program a negative.
The board was informed that 16.3 percent of teachers have students make use of their laptops daily, 44.2 percent used then a few times a week, 25.6 at least once a week and 11.6 percent used the computers monthly.
Director of Nutritional Services Gail McFarlin addressed the board and requested an increase in adult meal prices and to set the adult breakfast price at $1.65.
“Much of this is out of our hands,” McFarlin said. “There are certain prices we are charged and rates we have to set and for most of this the decision is not ours to make.”
McFarlin reported that currently 72.9 percent of Perry students receive a free or reduced lunch. The elementary school is at 79 percent, the middle school at 67 percent and the high school at 62 percent.
The board unanimously approved the increase in meal fees.
May is School Board Appreciation month, and Superintendent Lynn Ubben thanked PCSD President Dan Wilhelmi, Vice-President Jim Lutmer and Directors Kenia Alarcon, Kyle Baxter and Marjean Gries for their many hours of volunteering and for their support.
Ubben noted the there are 1,918 board seats across Iowa and that 1,250 are held by men (65 percent) and 768 by women (35 percent). Iowa has 506,336 K-12 students for the 2014-15 school year with a total budget of $6.1 billion.
The board also approved revisions to several district policies, primarily dealing with student safety on the internet, including protection from cyber bullying and monitoring of sites visited.
Also approved were contracts for administrators and special services group, the list of district fund raisers for 2015-16, a trip (privately funded) to the National Skills USA Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Ky., the setting of a committee for special education service delivery plans and the approval of a tentative master contract with the Perry Support Staff Association for 2015-16.
Hires, transfers and resignations were also accepted and approved, with the board electing to postpone (due to the length of the meeting) a review of the board’s own self-assessment of decision-making, relationships and teamwork.
Video courtesy of PEGASUS TV12. The entire meeting can be seen on Mediacom Ch. 12 Monday, May 18 at 4 p.m. and Wednesday, May 20 at 8 p.m.
