Students benefitting from extra assistance at RVMS

Additional assistance set aside this year for seventh and eighth-grade students at Royal Valley is making a difference, RVMS Principal John Linn told USD 337 Board of Education members Monday evening.

Since school started this fall, the nine periods in seventh and eighth grade were reduced to eight to allow more time for Professional Learning Community (PLC) work. 

PLCs involve a minimum of three teachers working together every day to meet with individual students to discuss how to help them succeed, Linn said.  

PLC time for the eighth-grade teachers is from 11 a.m. to noon and the seventh-grader teachers do PLC work from noon to 12:50 p.m.

“They’ll pull in students every once in a while and discuss issues they are seeing,” Linn said. “The teachers not only discuss what they can do to help our kids, but they’ll talk about how they can help each other as teachers.”

Each day, the teachers fill out a document recording what they are talking about, who they are seeing and what the results are. Several students meet with the group of teachers, one-on-one.

“It has worked very well,” Linn said. 

By the end of the semester, Linn and the teachers want to meet with every student to talk about both the positives and negatives of their schoolwork. 

“We want to talk to everyone because we don’t want kids to feel like they are being singled out or picked on by being pulled from class to talk to these teachers,” Linn said.

So far, the results have been extremely positive.

“In the last three weeks, we’ve had zero kids ineligible for activities and that has not happened since I’ve been here,” said Linn, who began working for the district in the fall of 2013.   

Linn said this semester he’s LAO seen the fewest amount of F grades in the seventh and eighth grade since he’s worked for Royal Valley.

“It has helped tremendously,” Linn said. “I think it’s important for the students who come into the group meeting to see it’s not just one teacher talking to them; it’s multiple teachers. And they know that the teachers are trying to figure out how to help them be successful and that they care about them.”

Linn said he takes part in the PLC meetings once or twice a week when his schedule allows and also checks the teachers’ logs regularly. 

“So far this quarter it has gone extremely well,” he said. “I am very pleased with how the teachers are utilizing this.”

In other business, the board:

* Approved consent items as presented.

* Received a letter hand delivered by student Garrett Schleif that expressed his concern with the football coaching staff at the middle school. Schlief’s mother, Lisa Cummings, was also present at the meeting. 

Board members thanked Schleif for sharing his concerns and stated that coaching evaluations are conducted at the end of each season and that they will take his concerns under advisement.

* Appointed Cindy Broxterman, board president, as the Kansas Association of School Boards delegate assembly voting member with all other members as alternates.

* Accepted the $7,500 prize money received by RVMS eighth-grade students Colin Everts, Luke Boyden and Colin Cavinesss for their Unsung Hero project. The check will be deposited into the Royal Valley Education Foundation fund and then will be disbursed to the students.

* Approved regalia purchases for the Native American Singers and Dancers. The items totaled $400 and will be paid for by Impact Aid funds. 

* Received a report from Susan Pfrang, director of curriculum and instruction, on the staff development day held Monday. 

* Met with Mark Haefke, district technology coordinator, who gave the board an update on technology in the district.

Haefke said that new projectors were installed at the high school this summer and that all freshmen students received new Chromebook laptops to use this year.

With the addition of Chromebooks to the fifth grade, all students at the middle and high schools have a Chromebook for school use. 

“Our teachers are taking advantage of them and are adjusting to how they teach,” Haefke said. 

Haefke also noted that there has been some issues with the network system at the district that’s affected wireless Internet for teachers. 

“I’m looking into some of the recommendations on how it can be fixed, but as of today, we’re back and moving forward.”

* Heard a report on the Kansas Association of School Boards fall educational summit from Superintendent Aaric Davis.

Davis said changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act were discussed, as well as KPERS (state retirement funding).

Davis said that Gov. Sam Brownback has set up an email address for people to send him their input and suggestions on how education should be funded in Kansas.

Davis asked the board if they would like him to write up information about how funding affects Royal Valley to send to Brownback, and the board agreed. 

* Received final enrollment numbers from Davis. Including early childhood education students, the district has 837 students enrolled this year, which is a decrease of four students from last year.

The district’s FTE (Full Time Equivalency) is 807.1, which is a decrease from last year’s 811.1. 

The district has had a decrease in enrollment in the last five years, Davis reported. During the 2012-2013 school year, the district had 939 students. 

* Learned from Davis that the district is looking into purchasing a new bus sometime this year, and board members received a list of the district’s current fleet of buses and vans. 

* Accepted the $10,000 donation from the Charitable Contributions Committee of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. 

Half of the donation is earmarked for the Native American Singers and Dancers. A total of $3,050 will be given to the elementary school and $1,950 is allocated to the high school. 

* Approved the updated Impact Aid policy, which is required to be updated annually.

* Accepted the snow removal bids from Ehrhart Excavating, which are the same rates as last year. The rates vary between $85 to $100 for two hours of work depending on what equipment is used. The district spent $680 last year on snow removal, Davis reported.

* Met in executive session for 20 minutes with Davis, Pfrang and Jim Holloman, RVHS principal.

Back in open session, the board approved new coaching contracts for Esther Cumpton, middle school girls basketball coach; Michael Stock, middle school assistant boys basketball coach; Shane Negonsott, freshmen boys basketball coach; and David Montgomery, assistant baseball coach.  

The board also approved the early graduation requests as presented. 

* Adjourned the meeting. Board member Jim O’Toole was absent from the meeting.