Enrollment up 75 students
Certified enrollment for Marshalltown Schools shows an increase of 75 students, according to numbers submitted to the Department of Education Oct. 15.
The District has 5,383 students, up from 5308 at this time last year. Lisa Koester, director of human resources and student issues, said the largest class size increase was in kindergarten. This fall the District has 426 students in kindergarten, an increase of 46 students from last year. To accommodate the larger numbers, an additional kindergarten classroom was added to Fisher Elementary.
“I really want to thank Mrs. Vopava for being flexible right at the start of the school year,” Koester said.
The number of open enrolled out students increased as well, though at a slower rate than last year. Open enrolled in students increased slightly and the number of tuition in/tuition out students also decreased.
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Roundhouse bids approved, work to begin next month
Work on the Roundhouse will begin in November now that the Board approved a $7.92 million bid from Dean Snyder Construction of Ankeny.
Five bids came in for the project, with the other for all over $8 million. Snyder’s bid comes in slightly below the architect estimate of $8.2 million.
Snyder has not completed a project for Marshalltown Schools before, but has done a number of projects larger, smaller, and comparable to the Roundhouse for districts such as Ankeny, Des Moines, and Mason City. Rick Simpson, director of buildings and grounds, told the Board Snyder’s references were vetted and those districts reported satisfaction with the work.
The scheduled completion for this phase of the Roundhouse project is Dec. 1, 2014.
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Board approves covering Special Education Deficit
The cost to provide quality education for special needs students far exceeds the amount of funding districts receive for it, which is why the Board approved an application for additional spending authority from the School Budget Review Committee (SBRC).
Marshalltown’s Special Education Fund Deficit is $882,056 – the amount spent on Special Education programming beyond the state allocation. Matt Cretsinger, director of special services, said the deficit is a common problem among districts as the spending formula has not changed since the 1980s, but the needs of students have changed. The way Special Education weighting is calculated has also changed, making it harder in his opinion to designate a student as Level III and therefore eligible for more funding.
Cretsinger noted that a recent conversation with other districts in the Urban Education Network showed districts dealing with $1.5 million to $3.5 million in SpEd deficits.
Board Vice President Jennifer Wilson encouraged the Board to consider pushing for reform of the funding formula during the Iowa Association of School Boards conference. That group lobbies the Iowa Legislature on behalf of school boards across Iowa.
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All elementary schools to be School-wide Title I programs
The three district elementary schools current functioning as Targeted Title I buildings will become School-wide Title I buildings.
Currently Anson, Rogers and Woodbury elementary schools are identified as school-wide programs. Next year Fisher, Frankin and Hoglan elementary schools will be added to that list.
To qualify as a school-wide program an elementary building has to have a poverty level of at least 40 percent. The schools will have to develop a comprehensive plan for reforming the instructional program. This plan will be reviewed and submitted annually to the state Title I office.
Dr. Susan Pecinovsky, associate superintendent for student achievement, said this process will not be as daunting for these schools as they have the plans from other schools to use as a model. She said the move to school-wide programming allows schools to use Title I funds for all students in a building instead of only those specifically identified for Title I services.
“It’s a big factor in how we can meet the needs and serve the students in Marshalltown,” she said.
School-wide programs also require paraeducators to be deemed “highly qualified”. Pecinovsky said passing the Work KEYS test or taking an AEA 267 certification could achieve this. The District will use Title I funds to support these certification processes.
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District approves bond sales
The Board approved the sale of $10 million in revenue bonds Monday night, approving a bid from Suntrust of Townson, Md., they initially accepted at the Oct. 7 meeting.
Suntrust had the lowest interest rate (2.92 percent) among the bids received. Matt Gillaspie from Piper Jaffray told the Board on Oct. 7 that they received very favorable interest rates and compared Marshalltown’s bond sale to several comparable sales in other Iowa districts.
The $10 million will be used to fund work in the District Facilities Plan, which includes the Marshalltown High School Roundhouse renovation and the Support Services Center remodeling.
The bonds will be paid back over time using future one-cent sale sax revenue.
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Board reviews timeout process
In the wake of the investigation at the Iowa Juvenile Home in Toledo, school districts across Iowa are reviewing the seclusionary timeout processes in their districts. During Monday’s Board meeting Matt Cretsinger, director of special services, reviewed the legal requirements and training related seclusionary timeout.
“[Timeout] can really be any setting,” Cretsinger said. “It doesn’t really have to be a room like you heard about at the Juvenile Home. This room could be a timeout room.”
According to Iowa law, seclusionary timeout means “the student is not allowed to access and is removed from the instructional setting to a designated time out room.” This can mean escorting a student to a room implementing room-clearing procedures where all except the identified student is removed from the classroom. It doesn’t mean asking a student to sit in another part of the classroom, in-school suspension or a student choosing to go into a timeout room.
The intent of timeout rooms is to provide a setting that minimizes opportunity for injury withholds all environmental stimuli from the child so they can de-escalate. It is not intended to serve as a disciplinary setting, a deterrent for inappropriate behavior, or for students who have not undergone extensive functional behavior assessment.
The rules and regulations for timeout rooms are detailed in Chapter 281-103 of the Iowa Code. At the start of each school year all school staff must complete Chapter 103 training through Area Education Agency 267’s online service. Each building also has a team of staff members who annually complete the nonviolent crisis intervention program (CPI) training.
Board member Bea Niblock suggested the District examine a different form of Chapter 103 training, citing concern that online training doesn’t provide enough guidance for staff. Cretsinger and Superintendent Marvin Wade said that was something the district could examine for next year.
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NOTES FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT
By Dr. Marvin Wade, Superintendent of Schools
With only one month in office, our new school board members have already received considerable training in governance – with more to occur during the month of November. Following their swearing in on September 23rd, an orientation to the responsibilities of the Board was provided by former and current board members. The Iowa Association of School Boards then provided three hours of training on October 2nd that included topics such as policy development, open meetings law, and the difference between board and administrative roles. Near the conclusion of Monday’s board meeting, there was a review of MCSD’s Strategic Action Plan, Organizational Chart, and Central Office Duties and Responsibilities Chart. New board members have also attended meetings of the Teacher Quality Committee and School Improvement Advisory Committee. Our veteran board members have been involved in all these learning opportunities, as well as meetings of the Business Education Alliance, Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, Design Advisory Committee, and the Marshalltown Auditorium Foundation Partnership. In November, the Board will participate in training from the Urban Education Network and the Iowa Association of School Boards, and will receive an orientation to school finance provided by MCSD Director of Business Operations Kevin Posekany.
I mention all of these events so people can better understand that successful governance of our district requires many hours of behind-the-scenes work in addition to the 5-10 hours per month of board meetings. As unpaid elected officials, school board members give generously for the benefit of our children and community.
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NOTES FROM THE BOARD
By Sherm Welker, Board President
Tonight the Board approved the sale of a $10m revenue bond to continue our capital improvement projects. The terms of bond quotes we received were very favorable at 2.92 percent interest and we will exclusively use sales tax revenues for payments.
The capital improvement plan is a long term investment in our district and keeps our facilities competitive with the ever changing technology of advanced education. We appreciate the planning and thought from the Boards of past for their insight. Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of our parents, and the tax payers of our district.
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Policy
First Reading
Early Retirement Policies – Changes made based on suggestions from Marshalltown Education Association; Change retirement notice deadline to first working day in February, will come back as first reading again.
To review the policy changes, visit the Staff Resources section of the district website.
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Personnel – Click here.
The Board Report 