Farwell Middle School reports to BOE
By Mary Kindig
Review Correspondent
Principal Catheryn Gross and three of her teachers came before the Farwell Area Schools Board of Education Monday night to give their Middle School Annual Report and to share the school’s goals.
Principal Gross first noted a few statistics: “Middle School has grades five though eight, last year our enrollment was at 488, 80 percent at-risk and 63 percent free and reduced lunch. Our school profile for staff — last year we had 31 faculty members, 22 are full-time, nine part-time, six paraprofessionals and two secretaries.” Gross reported that the programs in place last year would continue – mandatory lunchtime tutoring, academic support and one-on-one tutoring, as would the accelerated programs of algebra and the Science Olympiad.
“Our grade, according to the State, is a B; we met all our AYP targets and we’re in a phase zero,” Gross said, adding, “Phase zero is the good phase to be in; it means we get to make decisions ourselves.”
5th Grade teacher Casey Veenkant spoke to the Board about the Middle School’s math department goals. As in all core areas, the staff must choose assessment tools in order to monitor the progress and needs of their students. “The focus of our common assessment was number and operation. We did this for a lot of reasons,” Veenkant said, “a lot of the MEAP is number and operation, especially in 5th and 6th Grade. Number and operation is a lifelong skill that all our students, no matter what profession they choose later in life, will need.” Veenkant continued, “So we’re really using those common assessments to inform and drive our teaching to help those kids that need that help.”
Teacher Patti Ruckle spoke about the reading and writing goals. “This year the LA [language arts] department is really excited because we have some new programs,” Ruckle said, “The first one being Star Reading; that’s going to help us monitor our students’ comprehension. It’s a quick, brief assessment that all students, [grades] five through eight, are doing on the computer.” “The assessment data that we’re looking at to target our students for extra help – we’re looking at the MEAP scores, we’re looking at Star Reading scores, we’re looking at the oral reading fluency scores, and from there, we are gauging and monitoring our students four times a year and just watching them closely to see if our instruction is effective. If it is, keep going with it; if it’s not, adjust our instructions to meet the needs of the students,” Ruckle said.
Ruckle commented that writing has not been as big a focus as reading, but added that, “This year we hope to incorporate some of the writing into the summer program.” C.M.U. has given Farwell part of a WRITES grant, and Ruckle said that most of the Language Arts teachers attended a five-day course in strategies for teaching writing at MidMichigan Community College. One of the strategies Ruckle discussed begins with students reading good writing, discussing themes, learning punctuation and other writing skills, and modeling their own writing after good authors.
In the core areas of social studies and science, most of the goals have centered on reading comprehension. “The focus is on reading in the content area,” Ruckle said.
All five core areas had several goals in common: to have 80 percent proficiency on the MEAP test, to offer the subject during summer school, to assess students individually and track them throughout the grades, to decrease any proficiency gap between the at-risk and general students, and to follow though with evidence-based remediation whenever necessary.
“Just because you’re targeted right now for remediation, doesn’t mean you’re stuck there. You have a chance to come in and out, as needed.” Ruckle said.
Special Education teacher Gail Gorman spoke about team teaching, the new silent sustained reading program, and the mentoring program — which Principal Gross implemented last year — where community members can volunteer an hour a week to mentor a Middle School student.
After the presentation, Board President Mike Jenkins remarked, “It’s very obvious that your staff is doing an excellent job for our students.”
Also at Monday night’s meeting, Superintendent Dave Peterson told the Board that the district had been turned down for the Re-Imagine Grant, but that funding could still be obtained if he re-submits within two weeks. Peterson said Deb Snyder from the CG-RESD will help write an addendum, which can be up to five pages long, which will help clarify the ideas put forth in the grant.
Peterson commented, “Basically, we’re going to have flat school funding for five to ten years. So how can your grant make it work?” Peterson said that the State is looking for innovative ways to improve education with little or no increased costs. One of the components of the grant was the proposal that the district track the success of its students after graduation. “Farwell Area Schools will not consider its job done or consider success until we can verify that our graduates have completed one year of post-secondary school or maintained full-time employment for one year,” Peterson read from the grant, adding, “So we’re saying that we’re going to own our kids until they’re out of here a year, and we can verify they’ve been successful, whether it’s on the job or in school.” The Board agreed that was a goal they supported.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, Superintendent Peterson reported that the unofficial student count as of last Wednesday was 1,506. As for what the State is going to end up doing regarding maintaining or cutting school funding, no one seems to be able to predict. “Long-term, whether it’s a hundred dollars or a two hundred dollar cut this year or no cut this year, over a two-year time span, it’s going to be a four hundred or so dollar cut, so we’ve got to plan accordingly and not get too caught up in the short-term,” Peterson told the Board.
The next Board meeting is October 19, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Township Hall in Lake George.
