OCTORARA AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
WORK SESSION
March 12, 2012 – 7:30 p.m.
Jr./Sr. High School Multi-Purpose Room
DISCUSSION GUIDE
1. Lord’s Prayer
2. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
3. Roll Call
All Present.
4.Presentations
A. Budget
Mr. Carsley noted that the exceptions applied for in December ($ 1,185,023) were approved. The District can increase taxes beyond the index to that limit. Ms. Bowman reminded everyone that just because the exceptions were approved, that doesn't mean they will be used.
Mr. Carsley stated that they are receiving updated healthcare rates. They should have new numbers by Monday.
Mr. Hume asked if there have been any changes to the budget. Dr. Newcome said he will address a few items. He distributed a document for prep for next week.
Budget Adjustments 2012030001
Staff reductions are projected at approx. $500,000. He still needs some questions answered before he can give more details. See attached document for details:
They will also discuss Kindergarten next week.
Mr. Stoltzfus asked for the costs on Full Day & Half Day Kindergarten. Dr. Newcome stated that it is in the document.
Mr. Norris thanked everyone who looked at the Kindergarten program (Principals, Teachers, Parents).
Ms. Johnson asked how many surveys were sent out & how many responses. Ms. McNamara said that 180 surveys were sent out & 92 were returned. The survey was resent on two occasions to maximize the responses.
5.Visitors’ Comments - Agenda Items Only
None.
6.Information Items:
None.
7.Presentation of Agenda Items for the March 19, 2012 Regular Monthly Public Meeting: Hiring Approvals:
A. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve Ms. Caitlin Cellini as a long term substitute sixth grade teacher at the Octorara Intermediate School effective February 29, 2012 for approximately four to six weeks. Ms. Cellini’s rate will be $140 per day. (Replacing a medical leave.)
B. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve Ms. Gail Bolger as a long term substitute business education teacher at the Octorara Area Sr. High School effective February 22, 2012 through June 8, 2012. Ms. Bolger’s rate will be $140 per day. (Replacing a medical leave.)
C. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve Ms. Debbie Shank as a long term substitute secretary to the principal at the Octorara Area Sr. High School effective February 22, 2012 through June 8, 2012. Ms. Shank’s rate will be $16.41 per hour. (Replacing Gail Bolger who is substituting.)
D. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following supplemental contracts for the 2011-2012 school year:
Mark Barto Assistant Track Coach 6 pts @ $570 $3,420
Kendall Dixon Assistant Track Coach 6 pts @ $570 $3,420
E. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the attached list of student teachers as test proctors for the PSSA.
Dr. Newcome asked if the Board could vote on "E" tonight. There are new rules from the State and these people need to be listed as employees before testing starts for PSSAs. Mr. Ganow asked about the number of student teachers. Dr. Newcome said that there are currently a large number. We are usually pretty cooperative with local universities, but the numbers are getting too large. They like to have student teachers because they bring new ideas and it is always good when there is an extra adult in the room. We mostly have student teachers from West Chester and Millersville, with some from Immaculata & Lincoln. Student teachers have background checks in place.
Approved.
8. Facilities Committee Report
Mr. Stoltzfus said that they are still looking at final documents on the High School renovations. There will be some change orders coming through - mostly credits. The final punchlist is being worked on.
The contractor is still working on the water issue at OIS.
The air conditioning units in the shop wing had parts replaced because of noise, but haven't been run at full capacity yet.
They are still looking at prioritizing future needs: replacing air conditioning pumps, carpet at the PLC. They are checking to see if the carpeting is still under warranty as the school isn't that old.
The committee is recommending for the agenda for next week to accept a bid of $ 689,607.74 to replace the roof of the middle school (jr. high) There could be some increases as they take off the old roof.
They are hiring a company to come in and do a study on the brick work of the middle school.
Fields may be on the agenda next month.
Still looking at energy service companies to save money. They are waiting for proposals.
The contractor who is renting space across the road has started using it.
A storage room below the middle school flooded last fall. There may be some mold issues. They are looking at a company to clean up the space.
9. Education Committee Report
Mr. Norris said that the Education Committee had a nice conversation with the administrators. It was good to see them so enthusiastic about what they are doing.
Ms. Wilson talked about a summer reading requirement. There will be more information coming. There was some concern about the availability of books.
Mr. Rohrer & Ms. Wilson talked about senior privilege criteria. Some ideas included getting "Proficient" on the PSSAs or earning a "C" or better in classes.
The PSSA incentive website "Study Island" was also discussed. There will be financial & other incentives.
Kindergarten parent survey will be discussed next week.
Mr. Harmer talked about OES reading block changes. Reading workshop will be a 2 1/2 hour block of time. Students will choose their own books. This change will allow one-on-one conferencing with students.
Mr. Czetli & Mr. Rohrer demonstrated some things they are possibly going to do with iPads.
Dr. Newcome presented program changes due to staffing changes.
Ms. Wilson presented structural changes for the summer reading program.
They talked about an after school enrichment program for at-risk students. The estimated cost is $ 141,000. This needs to be looked at.
Mr. Stoltzfus said that the I.U. had looked at bulk purchasing for iPads. There is no discount.
10.Other Items/Concerns
Ms. Bowman spoke about the report given to the Board last month on charter schools. Copies were made of the single report & distributed to the Board. She passed out an additional page received today. I will be adding to the blog later.
Mr. Norris said that it was fascinating reading with a great level of detail. He also read Dr. Newcome's response. Whether charter schools are a benefit or not OR effective or not - he thanked Ms. Harmer for the data.
Ms. Bowman also thanked her for the info. The information is not new as the Board has discussed this matter many times. The discussion has not centered on whether there is value of charter schools, but whether they are worth the cost. Charter schools seem to be based on the premise that public schools are failing. Do we have a failing school? No.
11.Visitors’ Comments – General
Lorriane Harmer (Highland)- Wrote the report on charter schools. She made recommendations based on her observations. She compared PSSA results of Avon Grove Charter School to Octorara. Octorara is deficient in reading. She doesn't know how involved the board is in education. AGCS uses hands-on education. Has Octorara ever considered it? She claims to have observed mis-management of substitutes & that Octorara should use the same services that other districts in the county do.
She doesn't know how Octorara plans to pull kids back to the district when they did away with Middle School sports (and with HS sports in jeopardy).
Instead of study halls in the high school, there should be clubs, SAT prep and CPR courses.
Dr. Melton asked what year the PSSA data was from. What are the trends? Why just 3rd, 6th and 11th grade? Wouldn't it have been a better picture using all the data?
Lois Lantz (West Fallowfield) - Wanted to bring positive things to the table. She has 3 children enrolled who are doing great & love the school. She is concerned about the projected retirement of a music teacher. given the budget discussions last year. One of her children wanted to join the band. Mr. Reynolds & her child talked her into it. She is happy that they did. Her child loves it. She'd like to see the students have the opportunities. There is a lot of good at Octorara and it is good to focus on it.
Larry Lavenberg (Atglen) - noticed that the Auditor General has sent letters to the Governor concerning charter schools. Funding of charter schools is out of whack with public schools. There is more of a tax load on people paying for public schools. The Auditor General has asked the Governor to fix before adding more cyber & charter schools. The burden is still on the taxpayer. This needs to be fixed. He knows there are a couple of board members involved with the State. What is going on a the State level?
12.Administrator Comments/Announcements
Mr. Harmer reported that Mr. Lynch is taking 3 students from OES to Chorus Fest on March 30th.
Mr. Rohrer reported that 7th & 8th graders were successful at the local National History Day competition & will be moving on to States. He also reported that Brandon Arnsberger placed 8th in the State Wrestling Tournament. The Boys' Basketball team plays Archbishop Carroll at Coatesville tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.
Mr. Propper reported that Caitlin Coughlin qualified for the State swimming competition at Bucknell this weekend (the District does not have an official swim team, but has a few students who swim under the Octorara name).
Mr. Carsley will look into the state reimbursement of half day Kindergarten vs. full day Kindergarten.
Dr. Newcome said he would supply Ms. Harmer of the memo he wrote responding to her. The Board has a copy. He further stated that he is sincerely careful to be as supportive of a community member as possible who brings information. He has an obvious bias on this topic. He is defensive of the Board. When someone steps up and portrays them as less than honest, of not being objective & using smoke & mirrors; you want to something.
13. Board Comments
Dr. Melton was appreciative of the conversation. She is still in a learning curve. She takes her responsibility seriously. We are going to make budget changes based on funding. What we are doing is unsustainable.
Mr. Hume said he didn't understand what this was all about. The Board understands & knows this information. He didn't know why they needed this. We are making progress. He doesn't see any of that in the report. He would like to see all day Kindergarten. He's wondering if we could get donations from the parents. He wanted to make a correction on something he said last meeting. The bill he spoke about was Senate Bill 1, not House Bill 1. It is in committee, but there are no scheduled meetings at this time. He opposes the bill. It is wrecking the best system we have.
Mr. Lapp stated he wasn't too bothered by Ms. Harmer's statements. His kids went to private school , which he paid for. (Theyy now attend Octorara). It seems that charter schools are a duplication of what we already have. He believe competition is good & he approves of vouchers.
Dr. Melton said that competition only works if there is a level playing field. If one school has unfunded mandates and another school doesn't have to meet those mandates, then the first school is acting with its hands tied behind their backs. There are different rules.
Mr. Ganow wanted to know why were were giving them approximately $10,000, when the cost is $ 6,000. Ms. Harmer's report & presentation confirms his feeling that charter schools are a racket.
Dr. Newcome has put together documents for our representatives.
Ms. Bowman said we have to ask what we are solving for. How do we fulfill our obligation to move students from Kindergarten through graduation; out the door with plans after high school. Our staff works hard. It's hard to listen to "I'm not sure what's happening, but I think...." A lot of the recommendations are already being done.
Mr. Ganow asked Ms. McNamara if parents "red shirt" Kindergarten students. He recently read an article about it. She stated that she doesn't have the figures on her, but she doesn't think it happens often.14.Adjournment
Facility Committee Meeting – Monday, March 12, 2012 – 6:00 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Executive Session for personnel – Monday, March 12, 2012 – Following the Regular Meeting in the District Office Conference Room
Policy Committee Meeting – Monday, March 19, 2012 – 6:00 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Finance Committee Meeting – Monday, March 19, 2012 – 6:30 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Next regularly scheduled Board Meeting – Monday, March 19, 2012 – 7:30 p.m. in the Octorara Jr./Sr. High School Multi-Purpose Room
Education Committee Meeting – Monday, March 26, 2012 – 6:00 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
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It’s time for all day Kindergarten. The District has been talking about this for about 15 years. The PLC was built with the intention of having all-day Kindergarten. Those of us with juniors (who were the first class of Kindergarten students in the PLC) were informed by letter prior to Kindergarten registration that there would be all day Kindergarten for our children. The District backed out of it at the last minute before the budget was passed (after many parents had given up day care spots) with the promise it would be looked at again in 18 months. I don’t remember the discussion taking place after those 18 months, but I could have missed it as my last child was through Kindergarten by then.
ReplyDeleteWith as much as Kindergarten students need to know by the time they get to First Grade, 2 ½ hours per day doesn’t seem to be enough time. It is said that Kindergarten students are doing work that students used to do in First Grade not too many years ago. I saw first-hand how tight the schedule was when I was a substitute for the district. If you get off schedule by five minutes in Grades 1-12, it’s easy to make up that time someplace else. In a half-day Kindergarten setting, it is almost impossible to make up that time. There is very little wiggle room.
I would think that every extra hour we could give Kindergarten student building their education base would be beneficial in raising PSSA scores in the District.
On to the subject of the charter school discussion…..Let me say that this is my opinion & how I perceived the report & presentation. Also, anyone who knows me knows that I don’t cut the District any slack. If I disagree with something, I say so if I think it needs to be said.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was presumptuous to prepare a report full of recommendations without being asked. It is typical practice in any business that if you want recommendations, you hire a consultant; the consultant observes your day-to-day operations and speaks with the staff; discussion ensues and then a report of recommendations is rendered. The consultant may or may not assist in implementing the accepted recommendations. Ms. Harmer, by her own admission, does not know what has been discussed or tried. She doesn’t know how involved the Board is. She doesn’t know about funding.
Trying to compare the PSSA scores from one year between a traditional public school and a charter school borders on ludicrous for several reasons: 1) Public schools must accept every student who registers as long as they live in the district. Charter schools can pick & choose which students they admit. It is not a level playing field. A few kids with behavior or other issues, that a charter school would never accept can pull down the scores for a traditional public school depending on what sub-groups they are in. 2) Piggy-backing on #1 – The students at a charter school come from different school districts and their varying socio-economic makeup. 3) If a charter school has a student who doesn’t make proficient, they are probably in a sub-group that is small enough that it doesn’t count - so they aren’t in danger of not making AYP due to that sub-group. (I don’t have hard data on that, but common sense and having a basic understanding of the scores makes this a real possibility.) 4) Charter schools are made up of parents who care about their children’s education. While the vast majority of parents of traditional public school students care JUST AS MUCH about their children’s education, there are parents who don’t value education the way we would hope. If that is instilled in their children, that can also impact a district’s scores (If anyone takes issue with that statement, I can give you a couple of stories from my subbing days directly related to PSSA testing.) 5) Looking at one year doesn’t show trends.
What I found interesting is that as part of the statistics to show how poorly Octorara scored on the PSSAs, there were eight charter schools listed. Four of them did not make AYP. So, half on the list did not make AYP. I think that helps prove Dr. Newcome’s opinion that charter schools (in general) are not better than traditional public schools.
She also made a point of showing that Octorara’s SAT average scores were not as high as two charter schools. What she neglected to point out is that Octorara’s reading & math scores were higher than the State averages. (Colleges don’t tend to look at writing scores). Octorara also had many more students taking the test. The more students taking the test, there is a potentially greater spread of abilities. Octorara does not discourage any student from taking the SATs.
ReplyDeleteMany of her comments concerning funding implied that traditional & charter schools are on a level playing field. While the cost per enrolled student looks as though it is less, it doesn’t take into consideration that the traditional public school has to maintain facilities in case the charter & private school students would decide to enroll at Octorara. That would increase the cost per enrolled student at Octorara.
I’ve never heard at a Board meeting that Octorara HAD to add a program because it was being offered at a charter school. I wonder if the schools that have added programs for that reason could AFFORD those programs.
She made the statement that there is mismanagement of substitutes, but didn’t elaborate. That seems slanderous to me. I subbed for five years. I never saw mismanagement of subs. If it was a day where you were covering for multiple teachers and there was a “free” period, I and other subs were in the office doing clerical work.
She mentioned that she doesn’t think that high school students should have study halls. They should have clubs, SAT prep & CPR classes. 1) Did she ever think that students might actually USE study halls to do work? I know that study halls were a godsend to my kids in the fall when they were playing a sport, in the marching band & had other extracurricular activities (like clubs – which happen after school). 2) Does she know that SAT prep classes were eliminated to do budget issues? Where would the money come from? 3) As far as I know, they put seniors have separate phys ed classes for CPR.
Then, there was the comment about charter school students having no incentive to come back to Octorara because MS sports were eliminated & HS sports are in jeopardy.
If we had the money we are paying charter schools, we could have all day Kindergarten, reinstate MS sports & save HS sports.
The tone of the presentation bothered me, as well as the presumption that the Board & Administration were not aware of anything in her report and that they needed to be educated by her. These are not stupid people. I have attended a lot of Board meetings (as well as other meetings). All of the issues she raised have been discussed at one time or another in the meetings I’ve attended.
With the ever rising millage rates with no end in sight and being that kindergarten is not required in Pa. if people want there children in kindregarten let them pay for it.How are we suppose to sell our property with the highest millage rates in the county and who the hell would want to buy here
ReplyDeleteI think having no Kindergarten wouldn't be a real big selling point either.
ReplyDeleteSomething I forgot to write concerning Ms. Harmer's comment about substitutes. She said that because all of the other districts in the county use agencies that Octorara should too.
First of all, I'm not a big believer in doing something just because everyone else is doing it. That's actually the worst reason in my opinion.
Second, since Octorara has their own pool of substitutes they know who they are getting on any given day. The subs get to know the kids, the kids get to know the subs (and are comfortable with them), and the teachers & subs get to know each other. The teachers know what to expect from the substitutes. The substitutes get to know the routines of the different classrooms; are familiar with the texts; and know things that a casual sub from an agency could never know. It's especially true now, when substitutes who are with one of the agencies are sitting by their computers ready to pounce on assignments as they come up. They are working in Downingtown one day, West Chester the next and Coatesville the next. It seems to me that Octorara's method is better for the students, teachers & other staff because there is more consistency and familiarity.
Ellen, do you know where I can get a copy of the Kindergarten survey results and test results Dr Newcome distributed? I have left a message for the secretary, but haven't heard back.
ReplyDeleteKate