School Board Approves Changes To Curriculum

Oskaloosa Community School Board

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa School Board met in regular session on Tuesday evening.

The Board considered the first reading of the 2019-2020 school calendar.

Discussion centered on the start date, as the first day of school can’t legally start before August 23rd, which this upcoming year will land on a Friday.

Also potentially impacting the schedule is when the last day of school would be, which depends on how holiday breaks are handled.

Professional development, parent-teacher conferences, among other things are part of the discussion on what next year’s school calendar will look like.

The board approved a first reading with the change of moving as many professional development days as possible, from Wednesday to Friday. Continued input will take place over the next month when a final calendar will be approved.

The board approved offering a seal of Bi-literacy that was outlined in legislation from 2018. Students would have to demonstrate literacy in two or more languages for the seal to be given. This seal would start with the 2019 graduating class.

The board considered course changes for Oskaloosa High School curriculum, which would include current math programming due to concern that not all students at OHS are being exposed to all required math standards.

Also discussed was renaming a social studies course to more accurately reflect what is being taught. Those changes will be “Intro to Human Relations” to “Intro to Psychology,” Also changing will be “Child and Adolescent Development” to “Developmental Psychology.” Lastly, the course “Mental Illness” will be changed to “Abnormal Psychology.”

For Art students, an elective class “Adaptive Art” will be made available for special populations to explore and learn about art.

Also included in the changes to Art is an elective class “Peer Art.” It will provide students with an interest in working with special needs students an opportunity to plan and participate in art curriculum and instruction.

Also approved was a boys varsity basketball trip to the Quincy Shootout in Quincy, Illinois on January 26, 2019. The team has obtained permission from the IHSAA to attend, and there will be no cost to the general fund of the school system for the trip.

The board approved the resignation of Drew Foster, an OMS Special Education Instructor. The resignation was effective immediately.