Board Briefs: elementary attendance, reading remediation and class size reduction

At Wednesday’s school board meeting the elementary attendance policy and the class reduction plan came to board members for review. Two new proposals, the adoption of the Read 180 reading remediation program and an 85239 column, were presented, as well as AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) achievement status at all schools.

“On the positive side,” said Superintendent Dr. John Flores, “every school exceeded learning expectations.” He added that three schools, Maricopa Elementary, Maricopa Wells Middle School and Maricopa High School, were appealing their AYP status. The appeals are based on reporting errors in regard to the number of students tested. Some errors have already been found and submitted to the state. Flores noted that he felt all appeals would end in a positive manner for the schools involved.

The AYP is a demonstration that a school is making adequate yearly progress toward achieving its goal of student proficiency in mathematics, reading and writing on the AIMS test. At the high school level dropout rate and graduation rate are also used to determine adequate yearly progress.

Elementary Attendance Policy
The elementary attendance policy, previously tabled (see related story), was revisited and approved with one change. Instead of the original parental letter/conference at three absences with a contract/truancy referral at five unexcused absences, the board voted to change those numbers to two and four respectively. They also gave their approval to leadership to begin looking for a truancy officer(s) for the district; changes in the policy would not go into effect until a truancy officer(s) is in place.

Read 180 adoption
A proposal presented by Curriculum Director Dr. JoEtta Gonzales for the adoption of the Read 180 remediation program was tabled until further information on funding sources is available. Board member Tracy Davis suggested that Prop. 202 funds be explored.

Read 180 is a research-based reading intervention program utilizing software, high-interest literature and directed reading instruction. It would be implemented at both the high school and middle school levels. The cost would be $85,300; approximately half of that would be one-time start up costs.

Maricopa High School Principal Burnie Hibbard added that the program is “very well developed;” 1,000 schools in America use it. He explained that the reading remediation program would begin when school starts even though the launch of Read 180 would be delayed.

85239 column
The board agreed that providing information on the 85239 site would be good public relations; however, the information would need to be factual and not opinion. Submissions would be part of the district’s communication plan (see related story).

“The ability to give information on what’s going on would be a good thing,” said Board member Shannon Amos. Approval was tabled until Flores contacts the site to determine the specifics of the request.

Class Size Reduction Plan
The plan, presented at the July 25 board meeting, asks for teacher hirings when class sizes reach certain levels, generally at the 27-32 student enrollment mark depending on the grade level.

Flores explained, “We gave a good incentive to teachers, and they deserved it, but it has put a strain on the budget.”

Board President Jim Chaston acknowledged that financially it would not be possible right now to hire teachers to keep every class size small. “If it’s not feasible, why are we looking at this plan?” he said. “We don’t want to set you up to fail.” The plan was tabled for future consideration.

The district’s problem is that even if class sizes increase and new teachers are hired for the added student population, there is no additional space for new classrooms.

Santa Cruz Elementary at Tortosa has already enrolled 900 students. There are over 1,000 at Maricopa Elementary, 1,275 at Maricopa Wells Middle School and 1,200 at Maricopa High School according to their respective principals. Flores told the board that he was “quite sure” there would be about 5,300 students in the district this year.

Photos by Joyce Hollis