School Board
The Cameron District School Board met in regular session on Monday April 16 at the Administration building. The meeting began with the swearing in of the new board members Dan Kercher and Jackie Peck. Outgoing members Darrell Howell and Dr. Douglas Wyckoff were thanked for their twelve years of service on the board and presented with plaques during the meeting.
Assistant Superintendant Chris Shanks presented information to the board concerning the annual performance report an changed the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will implement for the 2018 performance reports and beyond. Those changes include:
1. New Assessment Transition for standards 1 and 2 in ELA and Mathematics.
-DESE will cease to use “hold harmless” as part of the APR calculation. If the 2018 points earned are the same or better than the 2017 calculation...the 2018 calculation will be used. If the 2018 points earned are less than the 2017 points earned, then the 2018 APR will be adjusted by 2/3 2017 points earned + 1/3 2018 points earned. The following year a combination of 2018 and 2019 points earned will be used. In 2020 all districts will have completed the transition to new standards and new assessment platforms.
2. Science Field Test for standards 1 and 2.
-No data available in 2018 for grade level and EOC test. Results will all be excluded from the
APR, and we will not receive any reports, or individual student scores from DESE.
3. Social Studies Field Test in 2019. There will be no data available in 2019 for American Government as this exam will be a field test next SY.
4. DESE will move to Direct Certification status as a measurement of poverty rather than the Free/Reduced Lunch calculation/paperwork.
5. College and Career Readiness Standard will exclude MAP-A students and student who graduate coded G03 (IEP goals met) for Standard 3.
6. Proportional Attendance Rate calculation will be used in 2018 and will be applied as follows: 90% or better 1 full point, > 87.5% will be .5 points, and > 85% will be .25 points for Standard 4.
7. Graduation Rate will exclude G03 students from the four-, five-, six-, and seven-year graduation rates. 8. Subgroup performance will be reported for any subgroup with 10 or more students all standards.
9. DESE will report the sum of Standard 1 + Standard 2 separately from the sum of Standard 3, Standard 4, and Standard 5 as the high performance in Standards 3-5 has the effect of masking low academic performance in schools.
Shanks said he was to have a meeting on April 19 to further clarify the information he was provided.
The high school report included information concerning the plans being implemented to support the District’s Comprehensive School Improvement Plan which includes preparation for End of Course (EOC) exams – including practice tests. EOC will be administered May 1through the 11.
Principal Brett Jones and the school counselors are continuing to work on the master schedule for the next school year and working on finalizing student schedules. The annual PLC review was held on April 6 and the feedback was very positive. The high school was notified they met the criteria to be an Exemplary PLC High School. Summer school schedules are being finalized and students will sign up for courses soon. Summer School begins on May 23.
Jones also reported to the board that the Band and Choir received all 1 ratings at their state festivals. Upcoming high school events include Senior Exhibition in the Library May 7, Senior Decision Day at the YMCA on May 11. Senior Awards Recognition May 14 in the High School Gym, and Graduation May 20.
Principal Tiffani Collins of Cameron Veterans Middle School provided the board with the report on the middle school’s support of the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan. In Academics Collins reported Science teachers met with Deb Korell on March 26 and as a team disaggregated the MAP practice data. Using the data, strengths were outlines and growth opportunities were identified for science instruction.
As part of the development of their anti-bullying program, students who chose to participate in the national walk out day to help stop school violence gathered in front of CVMS and had discussions facilitated about how to create a positive culture in the school. Collins said she believes the discussions went well. As part of the ongoing plan, Mr. Fisher will be sponsoring a team of students to facilitate conversations about how students can express their thoughts and concerns about how to make people feel safe at school.
Principal Laurie Mefford presented the Cameron Intermediate School report to the board. Teachers at CIS have been asked to submit their professional development needs for the next school year through a survey. Teachers polled selected standards based assessments and more extensive use of Google in the classroom - so CIS plans to offer professional development in those areas through inservice times and faculty meetings.
Parent surveys have been offered to all parents on all grade levels and will be open until the end of the year concerning school safety. Teachers are also being surveyed and those surveys will be used to create the Building Improvement Plan for CIS.
The 3rd and 4th grades had their spring concert on April 10. The theme for the 3rd grade was “Growth Mindset” and the 4th grade played their recorders and presented the Missouri School song that is played at home football pre-games. The 5th grade will host their concert on May 14.
Upcoming CIS events include Field Day on May 4th.
Principal Angie Ormsby presented the Parkview Elementary report to the school board. Ormsby reported students met their end of the year reading gold by reading 54,365 books – exceeding the goal of 44,000 by 10,365 total books read. Students were rewarded with popsciles, an extra recess and an assembly with confetti.
Family Reading Day at Parkview was held March 27 with 119 family members attending from multiple grade levels. Family members were invited to come and read with their students and were also provided with informational strategies for reading at home.
Spring concerts were held for K-2 on the morning of April 19, with the hope being parents and grandparents who cannot attend evening concerts could make it to a morning concert.
The Special Services Department provided their report to the board. On March 19 Early Childhood Screenings were held and 185 children between the ages of 3 months and 4 years were screened. 52 of those were clients of Parents and Teachers and 133 were preschool eligible. According to the report, this is consistent with the trends of the past few years. In 2017 187 children were screened. The diagnosticians have begun assessing those who needed additional assessments. Parents will be notified of their children’s eligibility for preschool once the evaluations are complete. Preliminary numbers indicated that 30 Special Education students have been identified as needing extended school year services in the summer of 2018, this number is down from last year where 71 students were served.
The next meeting of the Cameron School Board will be Monday May 21 at 7 p.m.
