New Board's first meeting

Wednesday's meeting will start off with the reorganization that occurs after each spring election as we elect new officers.

Other items of interest:

VII A & B: Craig will also provide us with an update on the impact on the budget of the Federal Stimulus money, and whatever other information we might have concerning state funding. As you may have heard the state will face a larger than expected budget deficit- this is likely to impact state aids to schools.

VII C: Transportation- We've heard from a number of parents concerning transportation of students to Kid's Safari for after school day care.
This year the district has provided transportation to Kids' Safari but has proposed dropping it for next year. Current District policy allows kids to be dropped off at day care centers if they are along existing routes, space is available and no additional costs are incurred. We may wish to revisit this policy.

VII D: An update concerning the Ad Hoc facilities committee. (That committee will hold a public listening session next Sunday at 6pm at Glacial Drumlin school.)

X-B: The board will consider the recommendation for adoption of 6-8th grade English Curriculum materials. Of all the items on the agenda this is the most relevant to the pursuit of our educational mission.

Under the Business Services committee section the board will also consider approval of borrowing $1.46M to fund the McKinstry Energy Performance Contracting agreement. The debt service will be repaid out of energy savings for projects performed through the contract. McKinstry will guarantee that the savings will fund the payments or make up the difference. It was initially intended to use a lease-purchase arrangement to fund these projects, however our bond counsel determined that much more favorable terms could be obtained using general obligation promissory notes.

The agenda can be found here.

"a really lousy test that measures lame standards"

This is an article from Tuesday's WSJ concerning standardized testing in Wisconsin, with quotes from Phil McDade and Bill Breisch. The article highlights the drive to replace the WKCE with something more useful. MGSD has taken a leading role in the effort to improve the state assessments, we already use the MAP and ACT testing, which are useful for individual assessment in ways that the WKCE is not- by the DPI's own admission:

... Schools should not rely on only WKCE data to gauge progress of individual students or to determine effectiveness of programs or curriculum...

Unfortunately we are required to administer the WKCE regardless of other assesments we might use, in the end we give up class time for both.

Sunny Schubert was kind enough to mention this blog in Wednesday's H-I column, where she comments on the "The School Calendar debate" that was brought up here: the fact that we have 13 half-days in the school calendar. Sunny notes that on the one hand these half days provide for teacher in-service training and compensation time for things like the parent teacher conferences that occur outside of the regular work hours; but on the other hand they are an inconvenience for parents and may be less effective instructional time.

The DPI requires 180 days of instruction each year, but it also allows the half-days to count toward this total (yes I agree this is problematic). Two half-days get us a whole day of comp. time or in-service without extending the school year for the staff, while consolidating two half days into one would require an additional day of staff time to offset the missed day of instruction. Very roughly a day of staff time is approximately 0.4% of the annual operating budget of the district.

I'm all for increasing instructional time and reducing the disruptions in the calendar, but the question is: If we had 2-3% more to spend, is it best spent consolidating these days? It is not my intent to minimize the concerns of parents about the calendar, nor do I disagree. It's just that the current system is the result of complex and competing considerations.

Snow White

I'm sitting here at the Warner Park community center where "Playtime Productions" Children's theatre is putting on a performance of their spring production "Snow White". Snow White is played beautifully by Abbie Seaman, a Glacial Drumlin sixth grader (one of several talented MG students in the production.) In this version of the fairy tale she has 13 "Vertically Challenged" friends.

Playtime Productions presents musical theatre by kids for kids and was founded and run for many years by long-time Monona resident Teddy Stutd. Each production reaches thousands of people through 16 public performances around Dane County each spring and fall.

If you haven't yet seen this spring's show you have plenty of opportunity. They will be at the Barrymore Theater tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) and will play the MG High School auditorium on Friday May 8th. The full schedule can be found here.

New Website

The district's new website is up! The updated site will eventually provide a consistent look and feel and improved utility while making the website easier to update and maintain. Some of the content behind the front page hasn't yet been updated, but should be over time.

Our new platform has several advantages over the one we're leaving:

A clean and consistent look across all the pages and schools
Improved calendars and self-updating "Coming Events" lists
Improved staff directories for the district and each building
Tools that make it much easier for teachers and other staff to publish and update their pages
Much-improved facilities for displaying photos
Sidebar links that structure themselves in a consistent way

Feedback?

The year ahead:

Been busy with work, so I haven't been prompt with this. By now you all know the election results, so welcome to new board members Lionel Norton, Jessica Ace and Jason McCutchin.

Mike Duplayee has served the district with integrity and dedication for 9 years. He brought an essential wealth of experience to the position that was indispensible. At this time especially his experience will be missed.

And I hope everyone who didn't get to the polls takes note of the one vote difference in the Monona Council race!

That said, I have a question for you: What goals should the new board set for the coming year? I have my ideas, and ideas like reforming the school calendar and the HS science curriculum have been mentioned in the comment sections. But I would like to hear some community perspective on this question. So weigh in please.

Nothing huge on the agenda for Wednesday's meeting. We will recognize the outgoing board members, with the departure of John and Phil the board will have much less collective experience than it has had in a long time. We will miss it.

Craig will provide an update of the doings of the Ad Hoc grade configuration committee and introduce us to the new Administrative Assistant who will replace Bev.

The board will also discuss the Open Enrollment applications, again we received a very large number, 174. The plan is to accept 103, mostly in High School, and wait list the rest. We have enough students wait listed for Kindergarten at Maywood (19) to open another section if we so choose. We will probably discuss that option on Wednesday. The large number of open enrollment applicants is a very positive sign. Most people expected last year's increase to be a one-time thing due to Madison's change in policy, but it looks like the surge is continuing.

And don't forget to vote on Tuesday!

Budget O-rama

Overwhelmed with more pressing concerns in recent meetings the business services committee has put off the usual consideration of the routine budget items that we normally work through each month. As a result much of next Wednedays meeting will be spent catching up with a long list of department budgets:

IX. Discussion and Possible Approval of the Following Budgets for 2009-2010
A. 535 – Superintendent’s Office
B. 537 – Business Office
C. Funds 38 & 39 – Debt Service
D. 539 – Transportation (Funds 10 & 27) – John VanderMerwe
E. 540 – Buildings & Grounds – Mark Scullion
Including District Utilities and Capital Maintenance Budgets
F. 541 – Technology – Bill Herman
G. 878 – Jump Start
H. 879 – Summer School
I. 880 – Pupil Services Budgets (Funds 10-& 27)
J. 881 – Early Learning Fair
K. 883 – Special Education Department Tuition Budgets (Funds 10 & 27)
L. 884 – Excel


Don't miss the fun!

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign...

Question: Does any care about the City of Monona sign ordinances?

When I ran for election I was careful to follow the rules. Today I can find at least on example for every candidate that is in violation. Aside from adding to the visual clutter, this abuse runs up the cost of local elections and puts those who abide by the rules at a disadvantage. Should we repeal the ordinance, or enforce it?

Update: According to The Isthmus the city threatened enforcement of the sign ordinance in at least one case last summer: http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=23414

If parts of the rules are unconstitutional, then its time to rewrite them so all the candidates know where they stand and can follow the same rules; and so the city doesn't end up in court over it.