LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2007

REGULAR BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

BOARD OF EDUCATION OFFICE 9190 CO. RD. 9, FINDLAY OHIO

7:00 P.M.

I.                    Call to Order

Pledge of Allegiance ……………………………………………Jeff Shadle, Board President

II.                 Recognition of Visitors

III.               Approval of minutes from the Wednesday, January 24, 2007 regular board of education meeting

IV.              Communications and Discussion

Second reading NEOLA policies

V.                 Principals’ Reports

Brian Burkett, Bruce Otley, Brenda Frankart

VI.              Treasurer’s Report ………………………………………………………………Lisa Dobbins

VII.            Superintendent’s Report ……………………………………………………….Dennis Recker

VIII.         New Business

A.     Approve Consent Agenda, to include:

1.       Listing of bills, expenditures, and investments through 1/31/07, and monthly financial report of the Treasurer.

2.       Approve appropriation modifications for February 2007

3.       Approve a contract with the Office of the Auditor of State, Local Government Services Section for FY 2007 GAAP Conversion services

4.       Approve the following “Then and Now” purchase orders:

#128911 Rahmberg and Stover Associates

#128952 West Central Learning Academy

5.       Approve the following resignations:

Don York, Middle School Head Track Coach effective 2-8-07

Lisa Schroeder, Assistant Volleyball Coach

6.       Approve the following volunteers as chaperones for Spanish

Dale Shaheen, Lisa Shaheen

7.       Approve Martha Boyd, long term substitute teacher for Julie Todd

8.       Approve Norma Perrone, long term substitute teacher for Abbie Murray

9.       Approve the following classified staff:

10.   Approve the following extra-curricular staff:

11.   Approve Kelley Foltz for tutoring at-risk students for Ohio Graduation Tests (Social Studies) on an as needed basis

B.  Approve cross country trip to St. Louis, Missouri, Fall 2007

      IX.        Other Business

X.                 Executive Session

XI.               Adjournment

 

LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLS

FEBRUARY 2007 DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION REPORT

DENNIS L. RECKER, SUPERINTENDENT

 

  1. Some interesting trends occur over time.  As I studied Mrs. Dobbins enrollment histories for 2000 to today, our elementary student populations declined 4%, but our elementary staff increased by 19%.  Our middle school enrollment, in the same period, declined by 3.5%, and staff increased 47%, and in high school, enrollment increased by nearly 11%, but staffing decreased by 3%.  Hopefully, the increased commitment in staff will continue to make a positive impact on the students we serve.
  2. Here is a 2nd quarter update from our ESP teachers.  (Item A)
  3. Just in case there is a chance that an artificial surface might be something we choose to do, I applied for $100,000 grant that would defray these costs.  If we don’t move forward and get the grant we just return it.  I just want to keep as many options available to us as possible.
  4. Mr. Otley, Mrs. Pester, and Mrs. Cramer have agreed to participate with the University of Cincinnati in a three year study “to better understand the aspects of teacher preparation and early career support that help new teacher be successful in teaching math and/or reading to elementary and middle school children”.  Since math is the “high stakes” area, this is ideal timing for our staff to be involved.
  5. I found a newspaper article on synthetic athletic surfaces being considered by another area school.  Please read it and my own observations.   (Item B)
  6. We should approve Kelley Foltz as a tutor to help our students needing to pass OGT social studies.
  7. The MORE production has grown into an “event”.  We used to have Odyssey of the Mind in the days before gifted education.  The MORE play is now every other year, and Brian has told me the extent of work involved on the part of the teacher.  For this reason, I’m asking that we add the MORE duties to the Odyssey definition as a supplemental salary.
  8. Here is grade distribution for our high schoolers involved in dual enrollment with Oberlin College.  This is good performance on the part of our students.  These grades can now become a part of the Oberlin program, but more importantly, they speak to a high level of student performance, and their ability to meet the standard of one of the nation’s top 100 colleges.  (Item C)
  9. Mr. Otley provided this hand-out “Survive or Thrive?” with some educational and economic excerpts.  While the overall theme explores globalization, the excerpts drive home the point that change is here, and item 15 is a “broadside” of sorts because it makes a compelling argument as to why we need to improve our academic performance.  Again, L-B is “ahead of the curve” as we are providing students opportunities for higher levels of learning, with positive results, in terms of achievement relative to ability and ACT performance.  (Item D)
  10. Our varsity boys basketball game with Wapak has been re-scheduled for Monday, February 19 at 6:00 p.m., also our board meeting night.  This affects a number of us, so it would be nice if we could re-schedule our meeting.  All board members are able to make February 20 for the board meeting.
  11. Negotiations with our teacher’s union are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 17 at 4:45 p.m. with exchange of proposals.
  12. Since graduation rates are part of the school grade card, districts must maintain a 93% graduation rate.  This time of the year, an interesting “phenomenon” occurs.  Students typically “at-risk” show up, register for class, and on occasion, withdraw within a week or two.  The result is L-B gets “hung” for this child’s being the drop-out.  We have two alternatives, to pursue truancy for a child who never comes and would rather sit in jail than attend school, or to allow them to pursue their GED (or so they say).  Usually they don’t.  As you see the graduation percentage rate, realize these numbers are “slanted” due to the phenomenon I’ve referred to.

 

 

  1. Note the 2005 research conducted on Saxon Math.  For the record, Columbus Grove High School and I conducted similar research in 1986 using one student section of Algebra utilizing Saxon and one section utilizing Structure and Method.  At first it looked like Saxon would be “the choice”, but by 4th quarter, when Mr. Allen (the math teacher) and I finished our study, the Saxon students were performing significantly lower than the students using Structure and Method.  Sadly to say, the students using the Saxon materials never did recover to perform at the higher level typified by Columbus Grove math students.

The Putnam County Schools then used Saxon to remediate students and to get them to minimal performance levels.  The program is excellent for that purpose.  Saxon created his program to teach high school drop-outs entering the military to master specific skills for army training programs, and this proved successful.  The major caveat is that Texas student performance is so abysmal, this program is now being used to get to a basic skill level, and it probably will be successful for that purpose.   (Item E)

  1. Attached is a synopsis of our concurrent enrollment PSOE initiatives, with some very compelling information.  I’ll go into more detail in this at the board meeting.  (Item F)
  2. With “tax season” here, I thought this might be a good reminder as to how the Liberty-Benton Schools, and our community, has benefited from the “tax plan” we instituted beginning in 1992.  (Item G)

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education

February 20, 2007

 

1.   As of today, we have the following number of students in our elementary program:

                                                                                                January 2007

Pre-school        -    22  (1 section – ˝ a.m. & ˝ p.m.)               (  21)

Kindergarten     -    97 (5 sections – avg. class 19.4)                    (  97)                 

First Grade        -    77 (4 sections – avg. class 19.3)                   (  75)                 

Second Grade   -    83 (4 sections – avg. class 20.8)                    (  82)                 

Third Grade      -  105 (5 sections – avg. class 21.0)                    (104)                 

Fourth Grade     -    85 (4 sections – avg. class 21.3)                    (  85)                 

Fifth Grade       -  105 (5 sections – avg. class 21.0)                                (104)                 

TOTAL (K-5):     552 School Average:  20.4                              (547)    Average (20.3)

                                     (574 with pre-school) 

 

  1. The attendance rate for our elementary building for the 2nd grading period ending January 19, 2007 was 96.12%, compared to 96.81% from a year ago this time.  This is only slightly down from the first quarter which was 97.74% considering the cold and flu season that hits us this time each year.

 

  1. Attached is the copy of our Specials Update for the end of the second quarter.  You will see lots of good stuff that has happened again this year.  We are very proud of our specials’ teachers and all that they accomplish with the students every month!

 

4.        Our MORE (gifted) students, as well as our 3rd grade music students, are working very hard to put together their performance of this year’s play, “Cinderella: The Return of the Glass Slipper.”  In order to provide an optimum environment for our audience, we will be having two performances this year on April 18th and 19th at 7:00 p.m.  We will have seating for up to 450 people for each evening performance.  Additionally, in order to continue to provide such high quality productions, we will be selling tickets this year for $2 for a one night ticket and $3 for a two night ticket.  This money will help offset the costs of props, costumes, set preparation, special effects, etc. that goes into the production of the play.  You will certainly not want to miss this special event that occurs every other year!  Thank you in advance to Mrs. Karen Walker, our gifted teacher, and Mrs. Diane Norris, elementary music teacher, for all their planning, teaching, and directing/conducting that they will do to help our students make this such a huge success again this year!

 

  1. We will begin registering kindergarten students for our upcoming class of 2020 starting Monday, February 26th through Wednesday, February 28th between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. via the telephone.  Any families with children that will be five on or before August 1, 2007 are asked to register by calling the elementary office during these hours.

 

  1. Grandparents Day/Senior Citizens Day has been set for Friday, March 30th for the elementary and middle school buildings.  Registrations have gone out in the Eagle Update for February and will go out again in March.  Additionally, registration forms will go home with students in their Friday Folders at the end of this week.  We will be running a shuttle service again from the high school parking lot to the elementary/middle school for the safety of our visitors for this day.  We are looking forward to all our guests that will be with us for this special day.

 

  1. We are pursuing entering into an agreement with the Ohio Center for Essential School Reform as an initiative to continue to improve our student achievement scores while attempting to meet our adequate yearly progress (AYP) as set by NCLB.  This initiative will work to provide our teachers with highly qualified professional development in the areas of reading and math and assist us with the creation and implementation of common assessments.  This is a proactive step to addressing our continued drive to improve our students’ achievement and work towards the NCLB goal of meeting our AYP on our state achievement tests.  Additionally, this high quality, sustained, and intensive professional development will help us to learn how to improve our students’ higher level thinking skills.  This will create a need for additional money to be added in this year’s elementary budget that was not foreseen in planning for this year.  However, it is my belief that taking a proactive role verses a reactive role will help us in achieving this goal faster, as it will take a year or two to implement fully and that much time to see the results (data) from this initiative.

 

 

UPCOMING ELEMENTARY EVENTS:

Feb. 26-28        Kindergarten Registration by phone (between 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.)

Feb. 26             Elementary Midterm (Interim) Progress reports go home

March 5            Kindergarten Progress Reports (Grade cards) go home with all students

March 8            2nd Grade Fieldtrip to Litzenberg for Maple Sugarin Days

March 12          PTO Meeting 7:00 p.m.

March 14          PTO Stevi B’s Night

March 15          2nd Grade Spring Music Program 7:00 p.m.

March 18-19     Eighth Annual Talent Shows (2:00 p.m. Sunday & 7:00 p.m. Monday)

March 20          2-hour Delay: Teacher Collaboration

 

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education

February 20, 2007

7:00 p.m.

 

  1. Handbook Conference:  Brenda and I attended the OASSA Student/Parent Handbook workshop on February 6, 2007 in Columbus.  These workshops are a great way to stay abreast of current legal issues as they relate to ongoing changes in the world of education.  A focal point of the conference was the role of technology in education as it relates to writing sound policy.

 

  1. February 9, 2007 Pep Rally:  Students at Liberty-Benton Middle School participated in a winter sports pep rally on Friday, February 9, 2007 to celebrate the accomplishments of our girls and boys basketball teams and also to show our support for the big homecoming game on Saturday versus Lakota.  Students dressed in Red White and Blue and show their Eagle Pride.  The staff helped the students get “all fired up” by participating in a toe touch contest.

 

  1. Grandparent’s/Special Guest Day, March 30, 2007:  The middle school will be participating in grandparents day on this date. Students that have visiting grandparents/special guests will be released to pick up their grandparent/special guest in the gym a few minutes prior to their designated visitation time.  Grandparents/special guests will be able to attend class with their student and eat lunch.  Coffee and snacks will be available in the gym during registration and throughout the morning.  We are looking forward to this special day.

 

  1.  Camp Storer Meeting Scheduled for April 12, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.:  There will be an informational meeting for all current 5th grade parents and students regarding next year’s sixth grade class trip to Camp Storer at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2007 in the middle school gym.  Bill Sparks, program coordinator for the camp, will be here on this evening to give an informational PowerPoint presentation on the camp experience and to field questions from parents and students.  This meeting has traditionally taken place during sixth grade orientation in August.  I moved the meeting to help ease the financial burden to parents and to help us be more fiscally sound in meeting the $5,178.00 deposit due July 10, 2007. 

 

  1. Athletic Assembly Change:  Our winter sports awards assembly has been rescheduled for Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the middle school gym.  The original date was February 27. 

 

  1. Dance to be re-scheduled:  The middle school dance scheduled for March 2, 2007 has been postponed.  Members of the student council will meet on February 27 after school to plan a new date.

 

  1. 2 Hour Collaboration Day February 8, 2007:  Our DVAS (District Valued Added Specialists) gave a presentation to the middle school staff on Value Added Data Analysis.  The purpose of the presentation was to introduce the staff on this emerging concept in education and to explore the differences between achievement and growth.  The value added metric will eventually become a component in our state building report card.  The presentation spawned some great discussion about the value added metric among the staff.  The staff also participated in a middle school SWOT for purposes of informing the strategic plan. 

 

  1. E-Tech Conference:  I attended the Ohio E-Tech conference with Gary Altman, Lance Stevens, and Andrew Eckhart on February 13, 2007.  Unfortunately, we had to leave early in morning on the 14th due to the weather.  However, I was able to attend three sessions on Monday.  The most interesting session was titled “Capturing the Value of Generation Tec” given by Mark Prensky.  Mr. Prensky has served as a consultant for the United Stated Military in developing simulations and other “learning games” to train soldiers.  He shared his thoughts on how this concept might be used in schools to help the “Digital Immigrants” (teachers) instruct the “Digital Natives” (students).  This was my first e-tech conference (having threatened to go the last several years).  With the increasing role of technology in the classroom, no doubt I’ll be back.

 

  1. Current Enrollment:

 

Grade                                 Total

    06                                    106 (up 3 from last month)

    07                                        92 (up 1 from last month)

    08                                     93 (up 1 from last month)

 

Total Students:  291                                  

*Gain of 5 students since January

 

  1. Oklahoma!  The following middle school students are involved in this year’s high school musical “Oklahoma!”.  I am glad to see so many middle school students get involved.  On Thursday, February 22, 2007, grades 5-8 will be traveling to the high school to watch a condensed version of the musical at 1:15. 

 

        Students in the CAST                                                        Students in the stage CREW          
     Zoe DeMarco          Brandon Swope                                                    Elijah Bakies         
     Lynna Durain           Kyle Yake                                                             McKenzie Brown
     Molly Fowler           Jennifer Shadle                                                     Devin Harmon
     Alyssa Hunker                                                                                        Tiffany Hart
     Lexie Manns                                                                                            Jacob Richardson
     Lizzy Marshall                                                                                         Joyce Vanhorn

 

Upcoming dates….

2/22/07                   Winter Sports Program 7:00 p.m.

2/23/07                   Interim reports sent home

3/16/07                   Spring pictures

3/20/07                   2 hour collaboration day

3/23/07                   End of the third grading period

3/30/07                   Grandparents Day

04/02-04.09/07       Spring Break

04/12/07                 Camp Storer informational meeting 7:00 p.m. in M.S. gym

04/18/07                 2 hour collaboration day

HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Liberty-Benton Board of Education Meeting

February 20, 2007

7:00 P.M.

 

 

1.)                Transcript and Grade Card Issues Resolved -  I wanted to let you know that the transcript issues we were experiencing with the programming out of Lima was resolved.  Also, when we ran our second quarter grade cards, which are really important because they contain semester averages that update students’ GPA’s, we discovered there was a problem with the freshmen grade point averages and credits.  After investigating these problems carefully, we discovered there was both an error and an inconsistency coming over from the 8th grade.  The error was a human error that did not have one single box checked on the computer, which meant that the students who had taken Algebra I in the 8th grade were not receiving the credit for it.  The inconsistency is how the DASL program had been set-up for the grading process.  Fortunately, we are able to go back into the system to change the set-up and re-run the grade cards to fit our high school format.  Since the middle school does not use any kind of cumulative grade point averages, this does not effect them that we have done this for last school year’s information.  Since this school year is already so far along, we will have to make these same alterations with next year’s freshmen before we run their high school grade cards as well.  The good news is that Mr. Otley understands the complexity of the problem, and he has agreed to change the format back on the middle school system to match the high school format.  Hopefully, after one more school year, we will not need to go back in the system and re-run the freshmen grade cards by hand.  Once this problem was corrected, I did meet with all of the freshmen who had been effected by these problems (the students who had earned some high school credit in 8th grade), I explained what had happened and how it had been corrected, and we provided them with a corrected grade card to take home.

2.)                Update on Grade Level Meetings -  I wanted to let you know that I received a lot of positive feedback from our recent grade level meetings.  I thank Sgt. Mike Martien from the Findlay Police Dept. and Dep. Mike McGuire from the Sheriff’s office for assisting me with these meetings.  Students were very attentive and asked worthwhile questions.  I truly believe that we got through to some of them, and at least made them all think about their actions more than they had previously.  Now, it is up to them, of course, to make positive choices.

3.)                Second Quarter Attendance -  Our overall attendance rate for the second nine weeks was 96%.

4.)                Honor Roll Students – Congratulations to the 200 honor roll students from the second nine week’s grading period.  These students were treated to an ice cream social by the Academic Boosters on February 2nd.

5.)                Third Quarter Midterms – Our midterms for the third nine week’s will be mailed home on Friday.

6.)                Cheerleading Update -  One of the changes we had planned to make this year with cheerleading effects the upcoming try-outs for next year.  We wanted to switch the procedures for try-outs to have the cheerleaders selected by the coaches themselves, just as the process is done for all of the other sports.  Another change includes the possibility for an outstanding freshman to be placed on a varsity squad, just as the other sports do as well.  I wanted to let all of you know this is coming up in case you hear any questions or comments about the changes.  We feel this is yet another move that puts cheerleading on a more even playing field with all of our other sports teams.

7.)                All County Honors Band And Choir -  Congratulations to our students and directors who participated in the All County Honors Band and Choir Concert on Sunday, February 18th.  It was a very nice performance.

8.)                Musical -  We hope to see everyone at the musical, “Oklahoma,” this weekend.  The showtimes are Friday night at 7:30 and Sunday afternoon at 2:00.  Our fine arts department has put in a great deal of time in preparing this year’s show, and with the bad weather and everything, the show will go on!

9.)                OGT Testing Coming Up -  During the week of March 12-16, all sophomores will take the five areas of the state-required Ohio Graduation Tests for the first time in their high school years, and juniors and seniors will repeat any tests they still need to pass.  The tests cover the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies.  We encourage all students who will be taking the tests to get a good night’s sleep, to eat a good breakfast, to take the test very seriously, and to use their testing time wisely.

10.)            Pep Band and Vocalists at the Basketball Games -  I would like to compliment our pep band for a terrific season and our vocalists who have been performing the National Anthem at the basketball games.  What wonderful representation of our music department!  They have done a beautiful job throughout the season!

11.)            Senior Program, “Real Money, Real World”  -  We have scheduled a very special program to be held with the seniors on March 6, 2007.  The program, “Real Money, Real World,” helps students with financial education.  There is a lot of research around right now that students need a lot more preparation in managing their finances before heading out into the “real world” on their own.  This program will start at 8:45 and run until approximately 12:51. 

8:45 – 10:15    Seniors will be split into 3 sections for a teaching session.

4th Period         Seniors will eat during their normal lunch times.

10:20-12:51     When seniors are not eating lunch, they will be in the gym for 16 simulation stations, and the program will conclude with an evaluation in the auditorium before returning to their afternoon classes.

12.)            Examples For Parents Online For Calculating Grades And Credits -  Examples had been previously posted on Edline for parents who have questions about calculating grades, and now, we have added examples for helping parents to calculate credits.

13.)            Band Camp in the Fall -  This Fall the band will be going away to camp.  This will not involve costs to the board, but I wanted to let you know since they have made some plans to do this.  They are letting the involved families know about it now, and they will be going to Camp Wilson in Bellefontaine so I don’t think this requires any special board approval.  This is simply an informational item.

14.)            Talent Show Underway -  We had 58 acts audition for this year’s show.  There are some new things, and a lot of great talent.  With one night of auditions getting postponed for snow, we still have 5 more acts to finish auditioning this Thursday, and then, the rehearsals will be running the next three Monday evenings to prepare for the shows.  We are excited about another great event.

15.)            Upcoming Events

Feb. 22                  Relay For Life Team Meeting, LBHS Library, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Feb. 23 & 35         Musical, “Oklahoma”  [Friday at 7:30, Sunday at 2:00]

Feb. 28                  Stevi B’s Night

March 5                 Bloodmobile

March 6                 Senior Program, “Real Money, Real World,” 8:45-12:51

March 7                 Post-Secondary Options Meeting, 7:00 p.m.

March 9                 Eagle Update Deadline

March 12-16          OGT Testing

March 13               Choir Concert, 7:30

March 18 & 19      Talent Shows [Sunday at 2:00, Monday at 7:00]

March 20               Two-Hour Delay For Collaboration Meeting

March 20               3.5 Banquet, 6:30 p.m.

March 30               L-B Relays Track Meet

April 28                 L-B Invitational Track Meet