Jet lag-

On the off chance you've been wondering where I've been, that's Eyjafjallajökull ( pronounced "Eh! Ya forgot my yogurt"!) erupting in the background.   Its a lovely place, when the weather clears up.  I got back early Wednesday- and was a bit jet lagged at the meeting, but I think this is what happened:

In the public comments section several teachers spoke regarding the contract negotiations, generally requesting that the board remove the modifications to the retirement benefits from the contract proposal.  On a related topic we received written notification that several teachers would no longer be participating in some activities viewed to be beyond the terms of the contract.

Other items of note: 
In unfinished business the board heard a discussion of, and approved, adoption of new biology text books necessary for the changes to the high school science curriculum.

The board approved administrative salaries with no increase for the coming contract year. 

The board discussed the location of the Alt. High School for next year and agreed to move ahead with moving the program to the Nichols building. At the last meeting there had been some discussion of moving this program to Winnequah, but there simply had not been time to thoroughly examine how that option would work or to inform and recieve feedback from the public.

Susan Fox announced committee appointments.  Appointment of board members are made by the board president, with the citizen membership made in consultation with the committee chairs.  The committees will be:
Business Services

Chair: Susan Manning
Susan Fox, Lionel Norton, Kathy Thomas (MN), Jeff Simpson (CG)

Policy:  Chair: Lionel Norton
Jessica Ace, Susan Manning, Beth Bingham (MN), Sharon Henes (CG)

Curriculum :  Chair: Peter Sobol
Jason McCutchin, Jill List, Andrew Bridell (MN), Jim Foley (CG)

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of continuous improvement activities in the district.  This detailed presentation examined efforts and results related to instructional facilitation in the High School, school climate at Glacial Drumlin, reading interventions in Winnequah, and math instruction at Cottage Grove Elementary.  We have seen significant positive results with these efforts, but mostly it is good to see that a continuous improvement model of operation is taking hold in the district - and it shows the importance of the resources necessary to support and develop these activities.  Although many staff members have made significant contributions, I don't think we would be where we are without the leadership of Ed O'Connor and John Faust, both of whom are leaving the district at the end of the year.

The board also received notice that Mary Ellen Van Valin, Business Services director is leaving the district.  The Herald-Independent has coverage here.  As Treasurer I have worked closely with Mary Ellen and can't say enough about her talents and how much this district relies on her expertise and experience to keep things running smoothly.

Some business...

The board had an important meeting Wednesday, although the meeting went past eleven we heard detailed reviews of the district's RtI (Response to Intervention) program, our disproportionally data, and a review of our standardized test results (A district "report card" if you will). The data was put together and presented by John Faust, Ed O'Connor, Bill Breisch and Charlie Ellis. These gentlemen did an excellent job putting together thorough and clear presentations for the board.

RTI is a system to service students with special needs, it relies on assessment of the effectiveness (the response) to enhanced instruction provided (the intervention) to these students. The emphasis is on results, not identification. RTI is a response to the problem that student achievement tends to stagnate once students are identified as having special needs in traditional special ed systems. Our district is still in the process of implementing this system, but we do have a leadership role in Wisconsin. Some of our data already shows apparent success of this approach in MG schools at the elementary level.

“Disproportionally” refers is the difference in achievement between our minority and white students, it is manifest in academic achievement data as well is the ratio of students identified with special needs or challenges, these ratios are often 3 times greater for minority students. This is a significant problem state wide, and our district is no different.

Overall our district's academic data is not as encouraging. While both growth and achievement are well above average, results are stagnant and not improving as much as I would like to see. It’s the reason the board needs to focus on achievement and not the issues of buildings, buses and fields that have been such a distraction over these last several years.

On the subject of the budget, a succession of little things over the summer has added up to increase our projected budget deficit for the current year. From an estimated $250,000 it is up to about $600,000- but we won't know precisely until the 3rd Friday count is in next week. This will take our fund balance down to the minimum acceptable or below. Bad news, and unfortunately the state budget means that next year will be significantly worse - we will probably be needing to find $1M in the next budget.

One more thing: This year we moved the annual meeting a few weeks earlier to make it easier to meet the state deadlines at the end of October. We didn't know at the time that the date we picked, Monday October 5th, was going to conflict with the Packers vs. Vikings game. Sorry 'bout that!