River Ridge Board Discusses Test Score Results

By MICHAEL MILLER | For The Prairie Advocate News

HANOVER – The River Ridge School Board reviewed and discussed their most recent test result scores, presented by Lynn Sisler and Brenda Potter, at their most recent meeting on October 15, 2012.

Attending the meeting were Board members Matt Wild, Barb Schaible, Board President David Howard, Dr. Allen Crist, Merri Sevey, and Raymie Diestelmeier, with Don McLane absent. Also on hand were Superintendent Brad Albrecht, Elementary School Principal Beau Buchs and High School/Elementary School Principal Mike Foltz.

Diestelmeier updated the Board on the highlights of the latest Area Vocational Center Board meeting. He presented the board with a photo of the AVC house, and reported that bids have been put out to redo half of the AVC roof using the building maintenance grant. He said this will require hiring an architect. He also reported that the per year insurance rate has gone up $3,300.

Albrecht noted during this discussion that the first meeting of the Project Lead the Way Committee will be held on October 23rd (according to the group’s official website.

“Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is the leading provider of rigorous and innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education curricular programs used in middle and high schools across the U.S.”

More information on PLTW can be found at http://www.pltw.org/).

High School and Middle School Guidance Counselor Brenda Potter and Elementary School Guidance Counselor Lynn Sisler presented the River Ridge test score results, including ISAE and PSAT/ACT Explore and Plan results. Some notable highlights; in a chart displaying High School ACT results, particularly the percentage of students ready for college-level classwork, River Ridge outperformed the state average in all categories, including College English Composition, College Algebra, College Social Science, and College Biology, as well as “Students meeting all 4 ACT benchmark scores.”

Crist asked why the 6th grade reading scores were a bit low (under AYP and state averages) and Potter said that particular class may be struggling a bit, though she did feel that the RtI program had made “significant differences.” Foltz noted that historically, looking back over five years, reading, math and science scores were at five year highs and that there had been steady increases over time per grade levels. He said that while state benchmarks were the goal, he was proud of the year to year progress.

The Board unanimously approved the date for the annual Board Retreat to be on Monday, November 19th at 5:15 pm, before the regular meeting.

Wild, Crist and Howard will be on the Negotiations Committee, per Board action.

Buchs’ report noted that Parent Teacher Conferences will be on the 1st and 2nd of November, from 3 to 8 pm on Thursday and from 8 to 12 noon on Friday.

Foltz also announced some dates. The high school students will present the play, “The Lion, The Witch and the The Wardrobe”, November 2nd & 3rd at 7:00 pm. The National Honor Society ceremony will be on November 7th, at 6 pm in the library.

Foltz said the craft fair was a big success, with 2900 people attending on Saturday, and 812 on Sunday. He received many compliments on the conduct and helpfulness of the River Ridge students who participated.

Albrecht also thanked the PTO and the students for a successful craft fair. He said the PTO did a “super job” particularly in light of their small numbers.

He said the greenhouse project would be dealt with at the retreat, and that “basically we’re at the point where we need to finalize a time schedule, if and what we’re going to do.” He said that current plans were for a storage locker facility and a greenhouse, and that contractors felt that it might be of more benefit to do everything at one time. He added that the current concept of the greenhouse would be a 28 x 36 foot structure, from Farm Tech, but since they do not put up the structure, this would have to be contracted out.

Mr. Albrecht thanked the family of Marilyn Holland for their $1,000.00 donation in her memory.

During executive session, a few personnel matters were dealt with. The Board accepted, with regret, Bonnie Patterson’s resignation as a para-professional, and also employed Joe Rizzo as extra driver for transporting students using a non-bus vehicle, as well as Barb Steinhagen as a para-professional to transport students.