Oskaloosa School Board For March 20, 2012
Oskaloosa Community School Administration
by R.D. Keep
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Oskaloosa Community School Board met in regular session Tuesday evening. The meeting followed a work session where the board looked at budget numbers as the district continues to assess the amount of money needed to operate the district through taxation. Immediately following the meeting the board went into closed session to work on negotiation strategy.
Good news came for Oskaloosa taxpayers as it was announced that the board would hold a public hearing on April 10 to certify the budget. The good news is that the tax levy will drop one dollar, from $16.84 per $1,000 evaluation to $15.83. The hearing will take place during the regular April meeting beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The middle school language arts teachers presented their Professional Learning Communities process for their discipline. The sixth, seventh and eighth students have found success in the Second Chance Reading program and Guided Reading program. There are currently eight sections of Second Chance Reading. Students in the 45th percentile or lower are recommended for the program.
Seventh period of the day is designed for the guided reading program. Students are in the program as long as they need assistance. These are generally short-term opportunities to assist the students in designated areas.
The teachers stated that the challenge is to make best use of the 51 minutes allotted per day in order to teach reading, writing, grammar and speech. In the past language arts has been taught either in a block with reading and writing, or as two separate subjects.
School curriculum director Dr. Mary Cooksley updated the board on the district leadership team initiatives. She stated that past presentations have indicated benchmarks the learning supports are intended to hit. The learning support plan for each building and the specific achievements and measurements will be presented to the board in May or June.
In other business: Approved the hiring of Jason Maddy as middle school social studies at BA, step 1.
Made an amendment to the school calendar. September 7 will be a teacher professional development day. The change occurred due to the speaker unavailable on the Friday before school begins. March 29, 2013 was designated as a snow day, but will now be an instructional day. School is still slated to end on May 23, 2013.
