The Perry School Board held their annual meeting Monday.
Kyle Baxter has again been elected President for the upcoming year and Jim Lutmer was reelected as Vice President. Regular Board meetings will continue to be held at 6pm the second Monday of each month in the Brady Library at Perry High School. Additionally, Board committee selections were approved Baxter will again serve as the Iowa Association of School Boards assembly and legislative representative and Linda Andorf will serve on the Dallas County Conference Board.
The regular monthly Board meeting started with a report on the State Summer Reading Pilot program. Elementary English as a Second Language teacher Kellie Seales talked about the program. She and the 4th grade teacher at St. Patrick’s Catholic School tested the program for effectiveness as one of 44 Districts in the state to participate in the pilot. Seales said she noticed a difference in her student’s accuracy and word recognition when it came to reading. She feels more time in the program would have been beneficial for the kids. All districts in the state will be required to offer intensive summer reading programs starting in 2018.
The next presentation was on the Teacher Leadership and Compensation program. Teacher Leadership and Mentor Coordinator Shannon Cline shared highlights of the program. Cline said in the past, teachers have gone through the Area Education Association for their orientation and training, now with this program there is a local staff development program that has been well received thus far. Cline days there are “countless fantastic teachers in the district and it has been really fun to see.”
Building principals then shared highlights of the back to school events. High School Principal Dan Marburger says it has been a really great start to school and is like they haven’t skipped a beat despite having months off for summer. He says the classes are big, with just one empty locker in the building but things are going well and they’re looking forward to homecoming later this month. Middle School Principal Shaun Krueger reiterated Marburger’s compliments on the transportation and food service departments running very smoothly. Krueger says they’re looking at revamping the way they do report cards, especially as they move forward and into standards based grading. Elementary School Co-Principals Ned Menke and Joel Martin echoed the other principals in stating that plans for standards based grading are moving forward, the Positive Behavior Intervention Supports program continues to work and things are going well so far this year.
Superintendent Lynn Ubben then outlined the legislative priorities as selected by the Iowa Association of School Boards.
Master form and contracts for game officials were then approved as presented and the athletic director was authorized to use the electronic signature of the Board President to enter into such contracts.
A Title 1 application was approved for the current fiscal year, as was participation in the Iowa Drug and Alcohol Program and authorized signers for bank accounts.
A food service agreement with New Opportunities Inc, or Head Start was approved. New Opportunities will pay the district $1.95 per child participant for breakfast, $3.15 for lunch and $0.95 for snack.
Another food service agreement with the Perry Child Development Center was approved at a cost of $3.08 per child for lunch.
Finally, Board policy revisions and personnel changes were approved as presented, as was a cooperative agreement with the University of Northern Iowa for student teachers..
Cline and other teacher leaders will join us on today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program to further explain the Teacher Leadership and Compensation program.