- Lenihan Intermediate School sixth grade teachers Angie Lovell, left, and Leah Mattox, center, talk to the school board about recent trips to Junior Achievement BizTown in Des Moines. Also pictured is Curriculum Director Erica Finders, right.
Lenihan teachers talk about successful visit to Junior Achievement BizTown
Lenihan sixth grade teachers Leah Mattox and Angie Lovell and Curriculum Director Erica Finders teamed up for this presentation, to talk about the recent Lenihan sixth grade trip to JA BizTown over the course of 6 days. JA BizTown is a facility full of mock businesses where students learn real world skills in a hands on environment.
“Angie and I think this is one of the best things we’ve ever done in our teaching,” Mattox said.
They taught curriculum for 5 weeks before they went to JA BizTown.
“We really saw some kids show some great leadership with this program,” Mattox said.
Read more about the visit at this link.
Public Hearing
Sale of Surplus Technology Equipment –
A public hearing was held for the sale of surplus technology equipment. This will be for the sale of approximately 970 Dell Chromebooks, 760 Acer Chromebooks and 100 various computers, laptops, tablet devices that have been retired from use due to age. No public comments made at this hearing.
Personnel
Personnel items approved by the board below
RESIGNATIONS:
Liliana Perez, 10 Mo Bilingual Attendance Secretary at MHS; Effective September 19, 2018
Sam Backstrom, Assistant Swim Coach at Miller Middle School; Effective September 14, 2018
Jeanette Heil, Special Education paraeducator Level II/II at Lenihan Intermediate School; Effective September 21, 2018
TERMINATIONS:
Melina Alvarado Angel, Special Education Paraeducator Level II/III at Lenihan Intermediate School; Effective September 18th, 2018
APPOINTMENTS:
Brittany O’Shea, Pre-School Paraeducator at Fisher Elementary
New Position
Start: October 2, 2018
Salary: $ 10.36/hr
CHANGE OF CONTRACT:
Jennifer Jensen, 10 Mo Secretary: Attendance at MHS
From: General Education Paraeducator: Study Hall at MHS
Replaces: Dianne Floyd
Start: October 3, 2018
Salary: $11.90/hr
Hours: 8 hr/day
Teacher Abi Burkhead transferred ELL at Woodbury
Student School Board Representatives Report
From left, MHS students Jocelin Sharfnejda, America Dominguez and Jane Ragland give a wrap up on Homecoming week events and talked about upcoming events at the high school.
Leaders of Learning book study
The board and administrators continued with their discussion with chapter two of the book “Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement” by Richard DuFour and Robert J. Marzano.
Special Education Deficit
Director of Special Services Matt Cretsinger presented this document on the special education deficit. The current special education deficit is at $1.92 million, which decreased by $64,588 from the previous year.
The district is required to provide services to special education students no matter the cost. The average cost of a special education student in Marshalltown is nearly $18,000 a year.
Cretsinger sought board approval for the authority from the School Budget Review Committee to account for the deficit.
Discussion was held regarding a wide range of topics in special education.
The board approved that the district seek authority from the SBRC.
Board Policies
First Reading – ALL FIRST READINGS BELOW ADOPTED AND WAIVED SECOND READING
204.9-R1 Board Calendar –
600.1 (new 603.4) Multicultural/Gender Fair Education – New number and title-
New Policy 602.4 Pilot-Experimental-Innovative Projects-Research –
New Policy 602.4-R Pilot-Experimental-Innovative Projects-Research Regulation A
New Policy 602.4-E Application for Pilot-Experimental-Innovative Projects-Research-
New Policy 603.2 Summer School Instruction – New policy from IASB
New Policy 603.5 Health Education – Mandatory policy
New Policy 603.5-E1 Human Growth and Development Student Excuse Form
New Policy 603.7 Career Education – New mandatory policy
New Policy 603.10 Global Education –
New Policy 603.11 Citizenship – Mandatory policy
605.3 (new 505.2) Student Promotion-Retention-Acceleration –
Initial Review
602.15 (new 603.8) Teaching About Religion – New number and title- marked as reviewed
603.1 (new 606.5-R2) Non-District Sponsored Travel – New number – marked as reviewed
603.2 (new 606.1) Class Size-Class Grouping- New number and title- new content – To come back before board
603.3 (new 606.5) Field Trips – New number – A little new content and more needed- To come back before board
603.3-R (new 606.5-R1) Field Trips Regulation – new number and policy reference change- marked as reviewed
New Policy 603.8-R1 Teaching About Religion Regulation-Religious Holidays – New policy IASB policy – To come back before board
605.7-R1 Use of Information Resources Regulation – Made adjustments due to current usage- To come back before board
New Policy 606.2 School Ceremonies and Observances – Adopting IASB policy – To come back before board
The next regular board meeting is at 5 p.m. on Monday, October 15 in district offices.
From Board President Bea Niblock:
“The board continues learning together with another book study this year. The book, Leaders of Learning, by DuFour and Marzano helps us understand that “no single person has all the knowledge, skill and talent to lead a district, improve a school, or meet all of the needs of every student”.
To that end, central office directors and building principals join us in discussion at each meeting. They help the board to understand the role of all educators in improving the district and raising student achievement. They challenge the board of directors to think in a myriad of different ways about the district and the role of change. And the board members help them to see the improvement from the perspective of the community.
Together, we can all participate in a collaborative effort to meet the challenges in moving the district forward in its work to raise student achievement and make Marshalltown the district of choice.” – Bea Niblock
For the McTV video from the meeting see this link.
The Board Report 