The Trenton R-9 Board of Education approved a curriculum update and set a date to review superintendent applications during a meeting Tuesday night at the district office.
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The Trenton R-9 Board of Education approved a curriculum update and set a date to review superintendent applications during a meeting Tuesday night at the district office.
The board approved a rewritten math curriculum for students in kindergarten through 12. Trenton High School Principal Fred Boland said staff have been working on the curriculum guide for over a year. Math is one of two areas which the state has asked that curriculum be rewritten. The other area is communication arts.
The board is planning to meet at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 15 to go over applications received to fill the superintendent?s position, which will become vacant on June 30, 2003 with the retirement of Harry Wheeler. Board Secretary Susan Leeper said 19 application requests have been sent out, although not all have been received. The deadline to submit applications for the position is Oct. 15. The board wants to review the applications to see if there are sufficient candidates before deciding whether or not to use an outside agency to help with the superintendent?s search.
Wheeler presented the board with the Annual Performance Report for 2001-2002, which is presented to the state each year. Wheeler noted that the district met 10 of 12 state standards on the list and received 82 points. The two areas in which requirements were not met were the reading index for grade three and the dropout rate. Rissler Elementary Principal Kathy Nolke noted that improvements continue to be made in the grade 3 reading level, noting that the district has seen an increase in its reading test scores since 1999, which she said is the year scores were low and thus making the average rate being used lower than the state standard. She said the district just missed meeting that requirement this past year by three-tenths of a point and that several things are being done to help improve that rating, including implementation of additional reading activities and hiring an extra paraprofessional to assist in the reading program.
As for the dropout rate, Wheeler said the district is making progress toward meeting the requirement and believes that the addition of the credit recovery program and the alternative school will help improve the district numbers.
Information from the APR will be used in conjunction with the Missouri School Improvement Plan team visit to the district in April.
In a related note, Wheeler updated the board on activities being done in preparation for the MSIP review. He said teachers have been assigned to committees to work on specific areas of a report that will be presented as part of the visit. Work is also being done on the Comprehensive School Improvement Program, which addresses areas of weakness as shown in the APR. In addition to teachers, administration and staff, community and board members will also be asked to assist in this process. Dr. John Holcomb, Cathy McKay and Cass Fuller were appointed to represent the board in the CSIP process.
The board approved the Administrative Special Education Program Review, as presented by Director of Special Education Louise Reasoner. The program outlines requirements of the special education program, which must be approved each year by the board.
Reports were also given by Mrs. Nolke and Boland concerning activities at the elementary school and high school. Middle School Principal George Moore was not at the board meeting as he was supervising a school activity.
Following the regular meeting, an executive session was held for legal, personnel and student matters. No announcement was made following the session.