Kennewick School Board Meeting March 23, 2011 5:30 PM Adjournment at 7:15 PM
Board member Lynn Fielding was absent.
Business:
• Winter sports athletes and coaches were recognized for their exceptional performances. Kennewick High School was noted for bowling and girls’ wrestling. Southridge High School was recognized for boys’ basketball, dance team, and wrestling. Kamiakin High School earned honors for wrestling, dance team, girls’ basketball and boys’ basketball. Brian Meneely is Big Nine Coach of the Year and Sarah Garret is also Coach of the Year.
• A parent spoke in favor of GSA clubs in Kennewick schools. Ron Williamson stated that building principals are supportive of these clubs and will work with organizers to establish GSA clubs in the high schools.
• Board members Kathy White and Wendy London attended a legislative conference. We will publish an article about what they learned.
• Capital Projects Update. See details below.
• Capital Projects Budget Update by Vic Roberts. See details below.
• Kennewick School District Strategic Plan. Eleven North Star goals have been approved by the board. These goals will be presented to the community for evaluation and recommendations during the month of April. See details below. A special article about the goals and process for community input will be published Friday, April 1.
• Four textbooks were approved for middle school Social Studies classes. See details below.
• Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests have been pilot tested for reading and math in Kindergarten, first and second grades. The board voted to drop DRA testing and adopt MAP testing. See details below.
Capital Projects Update
Doug Carl reported that the renovation of Southgate is on time and under budget. The KSD Administrative Center is substantially complete as is Cottonwood elementary. Architect drawings are ready for Sunset View. Some work is being finished at Canyon View. The property at 524 S. Dayton will be appraised for sale. The Dayton building is being demolished.
David Robison spoke to the concept of GC/CM – General Contractor/ Construction Manager. This arrangement is possible under RCW 39.10 and enables KSD to partner with a contractor for construction projects like the planned renovations of Sunset View, Cascade and Lincoln. Awarding projects to lowest bidders can be problematic while creating a Capital Projects Advisory Review Board (CPARB) will give KSD more control of projects and may result in cost, schedule and time savings.
The Eastside of Kennewick needs attention as school sizes are larger than desired. Amistad is the largest elementary in Kennewick. Design West Architects has been hired to do a feasibility study including Hawthorn and Washington to plan for future development needs.
Capital Projects Budget Update
Total Resources $56,454,463.
Remaining Costs $43,390,000.
Balance $13, 064,463.
Summer 2011 Projects $ 1,625,000.
Remaining Resources $11,439,463.
This balance is adequate to initiate renovation of Sunset View. About $7. million of state money will be coming back to Kennewick for elementary school renovation.
KSD Strategic Plan 2011/12
The board has approved eleven North Star goals for presentation to the community. While these goals will be adopted for the 2011/12 school year, some will be implemented over time and will have long term impacts on district curriculum, programs, staffing and costs.
April will be dedicated to informing the community about the goals and soliciting community input about the goals. Opportunities to learn about the goals and comment on them will be available through the schools and will be offered to parents who have students in the schools. One community input session is scheduled for April 25 from 6 to 7 PM and another on April 28 from 12 to 1 PM. Locations will be published when known.
The goal is for citizens to comment using district provided feedback forms which will be reviewed by the board before final adoption of the goals on May 25, 2011. Approximately 45 to 60 forms will be received from high school parents, 40 to 60 forms from middle school parents and 98 to 140 forms from elementary school parents.
Schools will be encouraged to enlist PTA/PTO, booster groups, parent nights and other scheduled school events to explain the goals and get community input. KSD staff will also be encouraged to offer feedback.
A sample plan for implementing the 8th grade Algebra goal was presented to illustrate what a plan would look like to the community. In this case, 2011/12 would be a planning year and the goal would be fully realized during the 2016/17 school year. Costs to fulfill the goals will be available.
The board voted unanimously to accept the proposed goals and community feedback form.
KSD Citizens will publish the details of the goals and the calendar for community input on Friday, April 1, 2011 (no joke).
Social studies Adoption
Chuck Lybeck reported process for studying the Social Studies program needs and selecting the recommended texts. The Social Studies Advisory Committee had 40 members representing all middle and high schools with teachers and principals from each school. Twenty-four parents conducted reviews and with only two exceptions recommended the texts without reservations.
The texts integrate reading, writing and math and are aligned with state standards.
• America-History of Our Nation (Pearson/Prentice Hall) Grade 8
• World History – Ancient Civilizations Through the Renaissance (Holt-McDougal) Grades 6-8
• World Geography (Holt-McDougal) Grade 7
• The Washington Journey (Gibbs Smith Education) Grades 6-12
The board voted unanimously to adopt these texts for KSD schools.
MAP Primary Testing
Lybeck noted that a KSD Strategic Plan sub goal is to conduct an annual math assessment in grades 1 and 2. It was decided to do the same for reading.
Primary MAP testing was offered to elementary teachers who volunteered. There were more requests to participate than the district could provide for. Testing was conducted in classrooms from January 18 to February 11 and teachers were debriefed February 23rd.
Twenty-two teachers in K-2 piloted the 30 minute tests and concluded they like these assessments which provide usable results which enable teachers to focus remediation on specific student skills.
Recommendations of the teachers:
Kindergarten – Optional use of primary Map tests for reading and math
1st grade – Use the primary MAP in reading and math but drop the DRA
2nd grade – Use the regular MAP in reading and math for most students. Use the primary MAP for special education and English Language Learner students. Drop the DRA.
The cost of MAP testing in Kindergarten is estimated to be $5000. and for 1st grade would be $15,000. Dropping the DRA which costs $20,000. would result in no additional testing costs to KSD.
The board voted unanimously to adopt staff recommendations.
WOW! Testing kindergartners and primary students with the MAP test. Of course MAP is produced by the NWEA, a company with direct ties to the Kennewick Board of Directors. KSD board member Lynn Fielding also sits on the board of NWEA. How much has KSD spent on MAP testing since Fielding became associated with NWEA?
Aside from all of this, I am appalled that KSD teachers were so ready to accept this kind of testing for the early grades. We should be paying attention to University of Oregon professor Yong Zhao: “Yinzhenzhike is a Chinese saying that literally means drinking poison to quench thirst.” Zhao says our ‘cure’ is making us sicker. It seems that we have developed a culture of testing, even though the children are focused on an ever narrower curriculum in order to “pass” the tests.
And now new research supports what kindergarten teachers have said all along: http://www.slate.com/id/2288402/
Are we really sure we want to start testing children in the early grades using standardized forms of assessment that are guaranteed to produce convergent thinking?