NRHEG School Board
By REED WALLER
Staff Writer
New Board Members
Newly elected NRHEG school Board members JoAnn Maloney, Travis Routh, and Mark Tollefson were welcomed by re-elected board chair Rick Schultz at Monday’s meeting. The new directors will begin their terms with the January meeting.
Fernbrook Mental Health
The board voted to approve going ahead with the proposed arrangement with Fernbrook Mental Health Services to provide an onsite mental health worker through the Minnesota School Mental Health Grant.
Sheena Gasner of Fernbrook gave a presentation last month explaining the arrangement, which would provide a worker at no cost or obligation to the district, except for the use of facilities.
It was questioned whether there were other organizations offering these services, but Dr. Goodwin explained, “They have to seek us out; we can’t seek them out.”
Math problems
A review of items samplers for the MCA math tests for grades 3-5 sparked a discussion of the district’s performance.
Board members looked over test questions for the different grades and talked with visiting faculty members about how the test questions measured particular skills.
Proficiency in math is below set standards, not only for NRHEG but for the majority of Minnesota districts.
“We’re thinking we need to take the entire math curriculum and push it down one grade,” said Supt. Dennis Goodwin. “Fourth grade lessons down to third grade, and so on.”
This is easier to say than to do. Where do you start? Learning has to build on what has been taught before.
Terri Engel, Curriculum Coordinator, explained how teachers write common assessments in order to track progress and see where the “holes” (gaps) in the learning are.
“In the second grade,” said Elementary Principal Doug Anderson, “there is a huge hole with operations that needs to be addressed.”
Math classes would need to be accelerated in order to equip students with the more advanced material they would be encountering next year, and this would have to go down the line.
“How far down would it have to go?” asked John Harrington.
“It could mean moving Pre-K in with K-5,” Goodwin admitted. “I don’t see any way around it.”
“This isn’t something we can do in a single year. We’re going to do RTI in math for the next couple years.”
Donations
Donations were approved from: First National Bank for Drama Club, $228.00; Jaguar Communications $50.00 and Truth Hardware $200.00 for Eagle Bluff; and American Legion Post #296 for the Veterans Day Program, $200.00.
Truth In Taxation
The next regular meeting of the NRHEG School Board will be Monday, Dec. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the New Richland Media Center.
The annual Truth in Taxation hearing will be held at 6:00 p.m. just preceding the regular meeting.