001Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting of the Fairfield Community School Schools Board of Directors to order. The time is 6:30 p.m. The regular monthly meeting of the board of directors of the Fairfield Community School District is to be held at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. The meeting is open to the public and the public is encouraged to attend. Time is provided in the meeting for public input. The mission of the Fairfield Community School Board of Directors is we empower all students to achieve their highest potential through strong relationships, collaboration, and accountability. The vision of the Fairfield Community School Board of Directors is a destination district where we all belong, learn, and grow. Will Secretary please call the role? >> Yep. >> Christy Kessle >> here. Dave Eastfern >> here.
002>> Mark Porter >> here. >> Mark Thornton >> here. >> Megan Del Robbins >> here. >> Terry Wells >> here. >> Cody Freeman >> here. All present. >> All right. Um are there any changes to the agenda? Perfections to the agenda? >> I have none. >> Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> Second. >> Moved by Christie, seconded by Mark Thornton. Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Sorry. Okay, moving on. Um the board uh the next item the board is being provided with provided the superintendent's recommendation to terminate the contract of the identified employee. The board will not take any action at this time and a hearing is in the process of being scheduled consistent with the employees request and Iowa code. And now we'll move
003on to our focus on learning. We have a mid- academic year growth report connected to our district priority number one, student success. >> Yeah, I think the U principles and um curriculum director, special ed director, they're going to kind of tag team this um from a K8 level. So you guys can jump in whenever you're ready. >> Okay. >> It'll be up here as well. If anyone wants a hard copy, I've got those um as well. >> All right. Um I'll focus on the littles first for our preschool through first grade uh building at Washington. Um at the beginning of the year we were at 47% proficient in the area of literacy and um when we just finished our benchmark screener for January we're at 55%. So we were really happy to see that 7%
004increase um in the area of literacy. Um early reading um at the elementary focuses on concepts of print onset sound letter sounds. We focus a lot on phenemic awareness and then um when we also wanted to see what what are our strengths uh for each student um and how much did they grow. So it was really exciting to see when you look at kindergarten um we had a 100% of our students in kindergarten made gains. They may not have reached proficiency but they made great g growth. I'm in first grade. Um, even though we are at 52% proficient for winter, we had a 5% growth as a grade level, but 98% of our students did show some growth. And of those students who were proficient already, 99% of them uh grew and we just had
005one student that did not. So, we were really excited and pleased to see that progress. Um, when you also look at our data, I also broke it down to see um students that have IEPs. I was curious uh what their progress is and um for preschool we had 25% of our students u mains and gains and growth and typically when we have preschoolers that have IEPs usually they don't have academic goals yet usually it's for adaptive behavior or behavior and we're they're just learning about school they're just learning about their letter sounds and their phmic awareness and so typically they don't have academic goals quite yet um 100% of our kindergarteners that have IEPs uh made gains in growth according to FAST and then 89% of our first graders had gains in literacy. So, we're
006really excited to see that movement there and exciting to see what the spring holds. Um, in math, um, just so you are aware, in January of 2026, um, the state did say that anybody that is not proficient um, in math also needs to have a intervention. Um, John, >> what's >> Thanks. >> Oh, yes. Thanks. um if your whole class is not 60% proficient in the area of math, the teacher does have to do a whole class intervention using re uh researchbased interventions. So all of our buildings have really been diving into math and having that be a focal area. Now um when you look at our scores for kindergarten, 61% are proficient in the fall, 51 in the winter. And um so we did see a dip there. That could be because the um
007I think the dip could be because the benchmark is rather rigorous from fall to winter and we're also measuring a couple different things in that area for kindergarten. So that's an area that we're really focused on. Um when you when we drill down to that data and really look at it, our kindergarteners really um the area of focus will be number sequencing. And so that's what we'll gear our interventions towards. And then in first grade, we stayed we stayed the same at 63% and 63%. Um, and we'll be focusing on decomposing there. Uh, we don't do fast math for preschool. Um, we're not required to do fast for preschool, but we feel like it's just a great thing to be able to get a baseline for them and it gets them kindergarten ready since they're
008going to be taking that assessment. um some of our growth for IEP students, um 94% of our IEP students in kindergarten showed growth and 100% in first grade showed growth. So, we're really excited to see that momentum. Um so even though we didn't maybe perform um as as well as we wanted in that winter time, we do think that majority of our students when you look at um 98% of our kindergarteners showed growth and 77% of our first graders showed growth that that's an area that we're really we're really proud of there. So we hope to get some momentum and push them uh forward for our spring testing. Um, do you guys have any questions about what our data is showing from fall to winter? >> So, if I'm looking at math specifically in kindergarten
009in the fall and then kindergarten in the winter, the only thing that was similar in regards to content was the number identification. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> And then similar in first grade, just different stuff. >> Yes. Y >> and the area when you look at our scores, um number ID is definitely an area that we would focus in on, but majority of our kids that struggled, it was that sequencing. So they have that number sense, but yet they don't know how to put that in order quite yet. So that's the area that we'll focus on for whole class intervention there. The other thing that um I'm really proud of the CLT work across the district that we're doing is every Friday we are really being intentional about looking at student data. Uh
010looking at the standards and really trying to make sure that what we're teaching aligns with what we're assessing. Um at my building every week we focus one week on reading instruction and reading data. Uh and we look at CKLA. Um that's our reading uh core one curriculum that we're using. Uh the next week we look at a progress monitoring for fast data and literacy and then we also the following week we do math data. So we're on a rotation of constantly making sure that we evaluate where kids are and then adjust um interventions as needed questions or anything. All right. Thanks for letting me share. >> Thanks Alex. >> Thank you. >> Hello. So when the three of us got together to do this fun work together, we had three different ways that we were
011doing this >> and then Zach had an idea and you know, you can kind of take data any way you want to. Um, as I'm looking at this data right here, one of the pieces that I really kind of want to really kind of focus on is that column on the far right. Um, that's part of those wigs that we have for Pence. Um, looking at the percentage of students who were proficient and or showed growth. Um, if there were another column to the right, it would state this. Our second graders started at 47% showing the students that were proficient coming in because we wouldn't have a baseline looking at that A rating for those kids coming in from first grade. So, as a whole, the class grew from a 47% to an 86%. Um,
012looking down for the third graders, again, going back to our wig of proficient andor showed growth, we started at 70% for third grade and grew to 89. And then for fourth grade went from 70 to 72%. So then you're saying what's happened here in fourth grade? Why do we go down 10%. I'm actually, and I don't really like to state this, we kind of did some testing a little bit differently. We kind of felt underneath the gun to get things done um with having a limited amount of time before we had a PD day to get our groups set up for title and for MTSS. We did do this test on a Friday, not going to lie on this because it was just trying to work around everything. Not sure that was ideal. And I
013honestly like, you know, you think, you live, you learn. I'm going to make a prediction. We will not I will actually say we will not test on a Friday again. And I will make a prediction that score is going to go up because I know when those fourth graders tested. I don't really think that's an accurate portrayal of where the data is for fourth grade, just to be quite honest with you. Um so that's my biggest takeaway from this is probably Friday wasn't the best day to do this, but that's okay. You live and you learn. Um the other piece of this is is each of our buildings um each of our grade levels have a pig which is a pretty important goal which goes off that proficiency. So in each of the grade hallways
014um what you do see is the pretty important goals that are stated with what they're wanting to be at the at the middle of the year and at the end of the year. The other piece of that is is where our wings are posted and where our pigs are posted. There are stars. So, as kids began to test, they're putting their stars around whether they made the growth or they were proficient. So, kids are having their stars being put up, which is a huge piece for the kids to kind of see their name on the wall on a star. On the next piece of data, you'll see the CBMR. Again, that's looking at that fluency piece. And as you begin thinking about second and third and fourth grade, we're really talking about decoding. We're talking
015about phonics, phmic awareness, and across the board of how that looks. Second grade obviously if we look at that far right column looking at those kids who were proficient and or show growth second grade was at 100%. Coming into the school year they were at 52% proficient. So from the beginning of year the second graders have grown from a 52% as proficient only because again we wouldn't really have that acc do the CBMR in first grade prior to coming to us. So we went from 52% to 100%. The third grade went from 67% to a 95% showing that proficient and or showing growth and the fourth grade went from 71 to 94%. The biggest celebration off of this screen is 100% of our students in title reading second through fourth grade had growth averaging anywhere
016between 30 to 50 words. 100% of our students with IEPs had growth ranging between 20 to 50 words. So to me that's like the biggest takeaway from this slide. Whereas you still want to see that proficiency piece go up. Um looking down there on that middle column to know that 100% of our kids made that girls that are in those specially designed um small groups that is a big piece for us right now on to math. I guess do you have any questions about reading before I go on to math? Do you look at the number that are proficient and show growth like already is that I mean it's not a column here but I guess that's the one sort of question. >> Yeah. And then there's some really good growth reports like you can
017really kind of start nerding out on fast bridge. I'm not going to lie on this because there is also that piece of like looking at those kids who like let's say are proficient like what's that range of growth that they're making and is are they making that expectancy of what they should be making as well. >> Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I mean, this is the part that I really like. I wish I'd probably I take a lot more time to, you know, it's just like one of those pieces you get into all this, but like there's a lot of digging you can do on this. >> Yeah. >> Is there like any sort of talk about how to prepare the students at kind of at the end of second grade for the transition into having those
018A tests that they don't have a Washington building? >> Um, that's a really good question. So, one of the pieces that um is it's a big change and I know you guys take you guys you don't do any of the other stuff on the computer, right? >> No, >> just all the >> um really the biggest piece of it is is really just talking about it. Um and it's really kind of hard. Here's your example. You the first screen that comes up is like asking, you know, what is the shape? You know, and it might be like an apple or something like that. And then based on how the students respond, whether that question gets harder or it gets easier. So those are like the preparatory things that you're doing. Um it's different than what
019you see for like ISAS when a student gets into a third grade and fourth grade where we have like the practice test that we do for like weeks leading up to that. The teachers do an instruction leading up to that. This is again I always call this kind of like that dipstick check. It's just kind of like that big that's like that screener that we do. um not really truly the high stakes, but yet we put a lot of decision- making on it as well. You know, that's a big piece. Um really the biggest piece is just kind of prepping them, making sure they take their time. And I think that's a piece that I could say that all second grade teachers, you know, that we talk about is like this is not a time
020test. And usually the biggest hurdle is is technology, you know, whereas I can remember back in the day when the fast testing started, we had binders, you know, we would sit oneon-one with a student and we would go through all that. Truly, it took forever, but you probably got better results. Whereas you have a kid with an iPad, you know, right? >> And there also is a case where we do have a kid who does finish early or you think, "Oh, this doesn't look like what they're able to do." We do reset them. I mean, it's a very far and few because that obviously, you know, testing ethics and stuff like that, but there are cases where, you know, we have reset it where you see like a kid, you're like, "This does not look
021like what they can do. We know they can do better than that." So we want to make sure that also goes into play too. >> So they don't have any time limit when they're >> usually the biggest hurdle is the iPad itself, >> the technology. >> Um a math um again if I look at that far right um column um that second grade group went from 53% um to 90 90% again that would have been a proficiency for them. Um the third grade last year when they ended second grade was at 73. They're at 74. Um and the fourth grade was at 64 going into 73. One of the pieces um as Heather alluded to earlier is that at the at the middle of the year here, we've had to um put math plans into
022play. Um we use a system called Panorama where we enter any of the interventions that we're doing whether that be tier 1, tier 2, tier three. So, in the case if you had a student at Penn Elementary, if a teacher is doing an intervention within that classroom during that small group time, they'd be entering that intervention in. Um, each of our students are in MTSS for reading, that's put in as a tier one intervention. If a student is in title reading, that's put in as a tier 2 intervention. And then if you're in special education, that's at tier three. So, you see those layers. So, as a kid goes from Heather's building to our building to um through the middle school, you're going to be able to see all those plans through the years and
023be able to toggle through the years. So, let's say, you know, back in third grade, Johnny did a really good job and made a lot of growth. It's not like, hey, let's go try to find that that, you know, that file and dust it off. All that stuff is archived in there. And it is it's really great because you can archive like, you know, what growth that they had, looking at the probes that you used. Um, so that's a great piece. So now with having the A math, we have to document what those math interventions are doing. So that's a piece where I decided back at the start of the year, we were just going to just dive in um and dive in using more of like the fact fluency because really when you start
024looking at third and fourth grade, especially when we think about like what did you guys learn in third grade, you're going to say you learned your multiplication facts, right? Because I did. I mean, I couldn't wait to go up the times tables, you know, get get the extra sheet and get like a sucker off of it. Um that is the piece that really when you start thinking about the fact fluency itself um that isn't a piece that is really integrated much. We teach them the different methods of how to add and subtract the different methods of uh multiplying and dividing. So one of the pieces that we did is be we began looking at the data which is what we use for the math automaticity on the next page. Um next screen. Yep. Um looking
025at where our kids are. Second grade um we'd be looking addition and subtraction. And then for the kids who test out of that, we start looking at the multiplication, giving them the direct instruction in that. Along with that, there's just some repetition. So what we've added into our day is an extra 20 minutes um of looking at that math automaticity. And so that's been our biggest like change. And so when I started looking at like the a math, um I'm not I'm not going to lie, it's trying to fit everything into the day. you want to fit the MTSS for reading, you want to fit the MTSS for math, you want to fit in small groups, you know, you could add another hour to the day and we'd be great. I mean, like honestly, it's
026just I don't want to say there's not enough time, but you know, there's a lot of time in there that we have to, you know, really account for. And so that's our biggest piece this year is just trying to respond to that. Um, and really as you start looking through this piece, um, hopefully over time you start seeing that growth, um, with having to have these mass plans in place, um, and just really, you know, focusing in on that. Um, one of the other piece of this pieces of this is is we do have, um, a consultant um, through the A.E.A., Amber Ernest, who's been working with us, and she's been really a good wealth of information um, coming in and working with our general education teachers. One of the pieces that is kind of
027the the key thing to take away right now is within the classrooms right now you can have the students who struggle with basic math facts all the way up to kids who can probably understand you know middle school concepts all in one classroom. Um with our IM math there are a lot of features online right now with AI where you can kind of help scaffold and differentiate your lessons um to kind of help meet those students. Um and that to us has been our biggest takeaway this year. is taking the curriculum that we've been in now for six years, but really adapting with the classes that we do have because there are varying needs in each room right now. So, it's a lot. Sorry, I could ramble for a long time. >> That's super helpful
028in info. Um, last year I think you said that with some of the math classes you you separated them kind of based on, you know, a certain mastery base. >> So, that's happening now during like the small group time. you see a lot of like the switching happening >> um to really kind of meet those needs with the extra instruction that's needed or enrichment that's needed with those groups. >> Yep. >> Again, give us another hour can make more time happen. Do you analyze like year over year whether it be one year of class as they go through or that same grade of like do you see a dip or consistency or always up or is it everybody's different so it's always >> when which area are you talking about reading or math >> on
029on any of it for the year over year to be like fourth grade they're always failing in the winter not failing going decreasing in the winter versus the fall or Usually I see third grade. That's usually the time where I see like things are starting to click where you might see like there's this big gap between students who are not proficient who kids are proficient. Let's say for instance like with CBMR, okay, we're still making growth but we're not proficient. And so you kind of see that number become stagnant in third grade as far as like proficiency. But by the time they leave us in fourth grade, I mean, I can sit in an IEP meeting and you know, obviously that's for our students who are tier three and I and I can name dozens
030of names in the last, you know, obviously as being a coach prior to this in the last 10 years, kids that came in on a single hand, like being able to read, you know, in second grade and then we're talking like as they go into like fifth grade and Carly's like so and so they exited off their IEP and that means they're reading at grade level. Like I usually see like things start really like really clicking about third grade and you kind of see the numbers kind of stay stagnant and by the time they leave in fourth grade you're like they got it. So that's truly that you what we typically see. Yeah. Lots of foundational things and I think the the big piece to always take away from that is thinking okay we have
031these kids who aren't proficient and you think about like a skill that you teach like where some kids can you know hear it like once twice three times some kids have to hear that same instruction. And you think to yourself, a short vow? Like seriously, how many times do I have to say this to this kid? I don't know. Are they dyslexic? And they're fourth grade and they're finally understanding short vowels. I mean, talk to that mom in that IEP meeting. She's going to be really happy that it finally just it clicked. So, really depends. >> Thanks. And another piece um with all of that and I kind of you saw my kind of like word vomit there in that third to column column from the right the percent proficiency growth for grade as a
032whole group. The piece that has been ongoing this year the amount of moveins and move outs you know really affect this number. I don't really feel like we're comparing apples and oranges constantly if that may makes makes sense. The other piece that doesn't change is let's say this kid's proficient and they keep the same score. Let's say like especially on the A rating or the A math, it counts as a negative towards us if that makes sense because it wasn't a growth. So that's another piece to kind of take into account with that as well. So again, data can kind of be kind of skewed. So that's kind of why I put all that information in there because it's not, you know, counting in other factors that happen. Not as an excuse, but those are
033factors. So >> it sounds like the IM math curriculum though is helping like you said it the tools that I mean >> the tools I'm telling you we all could have retired after co because we made that platform and put it online and then they made their own platform so we could have been millionaires by now I am math that is our biggest takeaway from all of this is that we had already built it and then they rebuilt it for us but yeah some of the features that they're really adding on game changer. I mean, it's kind of one of those pieces you can go down a big rabbit hole pretty quick, but then it just clicks. I mean, so when you start thinking about like, how do I meet this student? You know, I'm
034in a third grade. I'm in third grade classroom. This kid really kind of has more of like a first grade skills. They can really scaffold it down. Or I have this kid. I don't want to give them busy work, >> but like how can I how can I challenge them? And I think that's the biggest piece right now. And you know, like Tina Edlin and I would get into these banters back in the day when we were across the hallway cuz she's fighting for tag. I'm I'm fighting for SPE. I'm like, we have the same fight. on the opposite ends. So, >> okay. Thank you guys. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> All right. Hello everybody. Um so, similar to um Washington and to Pence, we of course have our winter testing as well. Um,
035at the middle school, we get the joy of testing for literacy, both fluency and comprehension, because ultimately we want our students to be moving away from just decoding and reading fluently to being able to really comprehend and understand what they're reading. So, um, fifth and sixth grade, we test fluency. Um, really proud of that 6% um, proficiency growth in fifth grade for fluency this year. Um, and then we did have a little dip there for for sixth grade. Even though it was the same number of students proficient, we had some kiddos move in. And so our proficiency was around the same. Um, but with student moveins, that kind of played with our proficiency percentage there. Um, but we still had 96% of our sixth graders who were either proficient or grew in fluency and 95%
036in fifth grade, which is really awesome. Um, and Mark, you were asking about looking at those like groups of kids from year to year. And I looked at our growth compared to last year for fluency. Um you can see at the bottom our fifth grade fluency this year, you know, average from fall to winter should be 17 words correct per minute increase. Um our average was 19 which is more than what our fifth graders grew on average last year at this time. Um in sixth grade average um we expect 15 words correct per minute increase from fall to winter and our average was 18 um which for that cohort is more than what they grew last year fall to winter. So, we're seeing those increases continue to grow and move, which is what we of
037course want. Um, comprehension, we had some really, really great increases. Fifth grade 5%, sixth grade 4%, 7th grade huge growth with 12% increase, and then eighth grade with a 4% increase. And those are measured on our MAP assessment, um, which is through the the NWA platform. Um, it's adaptive, so it starts kiddos um, in the fall all at the same level, and then it gets harder as they get questions correct, easier as they get questions incorrect. Um, and then it gives us information about where they are as far as informational text, um, literary text, and vocabulary acquisition and use. Um, and so then from there, we're able to kind of sort and look at where students are are struggling across the board and also individually. Um, and for our sixth through eighth graders, that's where
038we create our lift groups, which is our MTSS time um, at the end of the day. And then our fifth graders also have their MTSS or reading groups where they're getting what they need based on either fluency or comprehension in fifth grade. And then sixth through 8th grade, we really again hit that comprehension hard. Um and so we were able to make our intervention groups crossgrade mixed grades just depending on what students need where they're at similar levels based on their scores which um that was a change that we made last year and I think has been really really successful because we've seen huge increases in the in that growth for our students and being able to truly understand um you know what they're reading and and vocabulary and that's been a big change this
039year as well. We added in a vocabulary lift group um and we saw a lot of growth for those kids as well. Um, lots of kids moved out of reading groups post um, winter testing, which was awesome for them. They worked their way out of those groups and are able to maybe choose something that's a little bit more enriching or fun for them as well. So, it was great. Looking at math, this one was really exciting for me because as a whole, it might be the highest math growth that we've had uh, since I have been at the middle school. Um, fifth grade, we've still got some work to do there. We see we did have that dip in proficiency, but when we look at those students who grew, we had 71% of our students
040who grew and 75% were either proficient or showed growth. Um, this is the first year we're using MAP for fifth grade math. Historically, we've used a math, which is the same assessment used at Pence. Um, but I really wanted to compare apples to apples. I wanted to see what are our fifth graders scoring so that we can continue to move those students forward. Um, and when when they come into sixth grade, we have that data in front of us to say we already know. We can pull that report. Maybe they're struggling with this and we can just continue with that instead of comparing a math, which just doesn't assess quite the same things um in the same ways. So, that is a dip, but again, this is the first time that we've used that assessment
041in fifth grade. And so, that's something that we're absolutely responding to. um is similar to to a pen. So, we are using that um IM platform with AI to build some um intervention lessons. You know, work smarter not harder. It's tied directly into that curriculum that we already have. And so, we're building that into math group time in the fifth grade. Um that way all kids are getting similar things as well within a a kind of a rotation of spiraling are reviewing what they're learning currently. um as well as going back to those things that they learned and reviewed earlier in the year. Um that way those skills are staying fresh and we're building on that and not learning a skill, moving on and forgetting it because we all know, you know, if you don't
042use your math, you kind of forget it. That's like me trying to help eighth graders with their math homework. Sometimes I don't always know what to do. So, uh we want to make sure that those skills are just staying fresh for them as they go throughout the year. Um and we just started that recently. So, we're we're excited and hopeful that we'll see those big gains um in fifth grade math at as we get toward the end of the year. Uh sixth grade math is um always a highlight for us. So, we know uh 23% increase there uh for proficiency and 91% of our students were either proficient or showed growth uh which was amazing. Our seventh graders um had a really nice jump at 7% proficiency increase here from fall to winter as well
043with 90% of them um showing proficiency andor growth here at this testing window. Um and our sixth and seventh grade math teachers also have a math intervention um class period. It fits in their schedule where they're able to offer that period this year um as just a bonus support um for some students who maybe just need to see their math teacher and review those skills every other day. um and keep those fresh and all of those students showed growth on these tests which was amazing. So seeing that extra contact time um really just pay off in these in the assessments again those dipsticks as we hit through the middle of the year was awesome. So um really really proud of those math teachers for showing that huge growth. Eighth grade had an amazing jump as
044well at 6% um with that 8% average overall growth in proficiency for the building which was awesome. So um that test again is um on MAP where it measures those different areas in um math skills like number systems, expressions, equations, functions, geometry and statistics and probability. And again I wanted to look at what our average growth was by grade level compared to what was expected. So MAP gives you your expected benchmark fall, winter and spring. Um that expected benchmark in fifth grade you should grow about six points. um our average score increase there was three. So again we can see that in the proficiency as well. That's an area that we really need to focus on. Um as we look at sixth grade, six points is expected. Our average was 11 points. So totally blowing
045that out of the water. Um seventh grade expected was four points. And so um our average score increased by seven points and then eighth grade again was four points um expected and our average score increased by six points. So, um, lots of above expected growth there, um, for a lot of our kids. And, um, one other thing that we are doing to respond to our math data is again, um, like Angela talked about, Amber Ernest through the A.E.A. has been a wealth of knowledge. Um, she can talk circles around me in math, which is wonderful because I was an ELA teacher, so I I love the reading piece, but she just knows so much about math. um and she trained a couple of our staff members in a new math intervention that we are um
046piloting right now with some of our sixth and seventh grade students in our lift time. Um and so don't know yet exactly how much they're growing with that because we just started but um that allows us to provide more interventions um in math for our students um because we have more staff trained which has been awesome. So that's been great. >> We'll talk about >> more science. science. Um, this one was another really really big celebration point for me. This is I know for a fact the best science growth I've seen um in my three years here midyear. Um, so fifth grade had a wonderful increase of 9% um in proficiency and 807% of our students were either proficient or showed growth. Um, in sixth grade we did have a dip in proficiency there. We
047went down by two students um being proficient. So just a a small decrease there. Um but 89% were either proficient or showed growth. And then seventh grade we had 71 uh or 72% of our students in the fall, 72.4 to 67. So that's where we did see a dip um as far as proficiency, but we had um 90% of those students were either already proficient or showed growth. And so we did we had a lot of seventh grade students show a lot of growth in science. And then eighth grade science, 16.9% increase in proficiency. They work their tails off there. So 93% proficient or showed growth. Um and as you can see at the bottom again, that comparison of what was expected in growth to what we um showed in our average growth increases. Three
048points in in fifth grade is expected. Six points is what we averaged. Two points in sixth grade expected, three um points average increase. And then seventh grade, two points expected. Four points was our average and one point expected in eighth grade. And we averaged four points. So one thing that we did that I think made a huge difference with this winter testing system because or testing um session is, you know, a lot of times we do see a dip in the winter. Kids kind of just hit their lull and they they don't necessarily care. So we did a couple of of challenges. We had did a grade level challenge of the grade level with the um highest overall average growth. So, I took all of their growth percentages and averaged them. Um, and that grade
049level earned um a little reward of some free time during their MTSS period and some snacks. I looked like a lunatic going to Walmart, buying a bunch of zebra cakes and and snacks. But eighth grade won that, so they were very excited um because I think eighth graders often get the kind of the gig of being eighth grade itis and they're a little bit checked out, but they worked really hard and showed a lot of growth. So, they got to enjoy that last week um with lots of snacks. And then we also did an individual challenge. So any student who met the halfyear expected growth in two out of three areas. So it wasn't just any growth. They had to meet the halfyear expected growth. Um we did a little candy nacho bar last week.
050So they got to do you know they had animal crackers and graham crackers and toppings and all sorts of fun. So they really enjoyed that. I think it gave them something to look forward to and to work for. Um I know a lot of kids just enjoyed it just being rewarded for their hard work. You know as I said thank you. I was like, "Well, thank you because this is for for you um and for the hard work that you showed." And so, they just seemed really aware of it. I had a lot of kids stop me in the hall during testing and say, "Mrs. Martin, guess how much I grew." So, they were owning that and aware of it. Um, and all of our teachers had kids set goals before their tests as well.
051So, um, just that awareness I think made a huge difference for us this time. Um, you know, and we saw saw a lot of great gains. So, any questions? I guess I'm just curious about science because there's, you know, you're you're moving along through a grade curriculum. >> There's no intervention really for science, right? So, if they miss something, are they tested on that again kind of those building blocks the next year? And are we like >> So, that's what I like about MAP is it does it picks up where the kids are? Um, so it continuously tests and and assesses on those same skills. Um, and so that is something again going back to like that work that we're doing on Fridays of really breaking down what those standards are, what's taught where, how
052do we know what are we spiraling and how to keep those things fresh and then filling those gaps for those students. Um, you know, this allows us to break that down a little bit to say all of our kids or a majority of our kids are really struggling in this area. We need to make that a focus as they move from grade level to grade level. >> Okay, makes sense. Can you just repeat for me um when do they get the intervention in sixth and seventh grade math? Like what part of the day is it during math or is it the extra MTSS? >> So it's during our our lift or MTSS at the end of the day. Um but some kids if they are just needing maybe a little bit more than that there's
053a class period built in kind of like our title reading where they would go in and have that we have math support um with those math teachers as well. And if kids are in both, what about they they just have to you assign them one or the other for reading and math. >> And that's where yeah, we would for part of the year put them in a reading intervention if they needed it or a math intervention. And that's where having those extra periods during the day allows us to also um serve more of those kids who need >> those be students that don't have an IEP or a goal connected to literacy or math. They're getting that intervention in a tier three format >> with their STI. Mhm. >> We did shift some things too
054um for this lift session where students with IEPs um even if they are getting that SDI during that during the day during MTSS if they um you know maybe were really really close but didn't show enough growth in reading or math they're receiving one of those interventions in MTSS as well um as long as they're not receiving STI during that time. So, some kids are getting a double dip as well um to ensure that they're getting as much contact time in that content that they need. >> Yeah, it's a rabbit hole. >> It is. >> There's more and more questions, but I won't. >> Anyone else? >> All right, off to a concert. Thank you. Thanks. >> Okay. All right, let's move along to our committee reports. Each committee chair will share two to three
055minute update connected to their work. We'll start with policy mark. >> Yeah. So, we met uh Friday, February 6th at 8 a.m. Uh we reviewed three of the 400 policies, which you'll see on there with no changes. So, they'll just be going through um as they are. Um, and then we kind of talked through Evan and I were trying to revamp how we review all of our policies and get a plan and in place for that. So, starting in March, we're actually going to attack one whole series and go through all of them and just knock it out. And so, we're going to try that for March. So, we may have a huge reading out either in the March board meeting or April depending on how that meeting goes. um just to get a lot
056of them up to date and as close to IASB as we can. And so we're going to try that with the 400 series uh first coming up. And then if it works, we'll continue to work our way through so we can get through all of our policies and get them up to speed and reviewed um in a timely fashion and we'll see how that goes. >> I think that's it. >> Thanks. Strategic planning did not meet so nothing to share, right? Nothing. Okay. Uh finance Dave. >> Yes. So finance committee met on February 4th and uh we reviewed the proposed property tax levy public public notification that we'll have uh later in the meeting and the committee agreed uh with the publication language and the need to stabilize the levy rate for our taxpayers. Additionally,
057the committee reviewed the uh current medical health benefit and budget and the budget impact of utilization rate. >> Sounds good. Thanks. >> Short meeting. >> It was uh operations Mark. >> Yep. Uh we met on February 6th and it was another pretty short meeting. Primarily we just got together discuss kind of the topics that we want to generally uh discuss in all of our operations meetings. Historically or in the past operations was basically just facilities and usually what we'd normally discuss in those meetings we just talk about any upcoming projects uh that would would be potentially coming up but now that operations is much larger than that it's much more uh larger encompassing of the whole district. So we discussed the four main areas that we wanted to be uh a part of operations it
058was facilities technology transportation and food service. So pretty much anything facilities wise is supposed to be getting coming to our attention as we're going to discuss any upcoming projects that uh we're going to be doing in the district and then also look at the cost of those projects and also the need of those projects. Anything technology-wise, transportation wise and food service. And then we also just kind of talked about you know how the structure of operations is now uh you know uh set up within the district. So basically um the operations director who's Matt Tyler actually reports to Evan and then talked about how also Stephanie Hawkins and uh uh reports to him as well. So um basically just talked about those simple things and talked about the things that's going to uh drive that
059uh that committee going forward. Um we also spent a little bit of time talking about the 5-year capital improvement plan. Um, we discussed the upcoming softball fence that's going to get uh renewed there at the softball fields and then just a handful of other projects. There's also going to be a new sign going at the Washington School, but I don't believe any that's coming to a vote tonight. It'll be coming down the road. Correct. So, yep, that was it. >> Great. Um, HR negotiations, Cody. >> All right. Our HR committee met on Thursday, February 5th. Uh we discussed known certified vacancies for the 202627 school year, seeing if there are any additional vacancies that might have been uh unknown since our last meeting. Uh the current certified openings are posted on our district website. I
060think Zach's going to go into more detail on that on his update on individual um openings. We also discussed the admin and director's professional service contracts which are included in tonight's agenda um for a vote and also um the contracts for a 3% increase across the board for secretary staff contracts which is also in the agenda. Um, we also spent a brief amount of time on the schedule B tenative agreement uh which is an updated contract uh compensation schedule for extracurricular activities which is your coaches and leaders and things like that at all the different buildings and uh that too is on the agenda for tonight. So the HR committee put a lot of work in for tonight's meeting. >> Great. Thank you. All right, we'll move along. Do I hear a motion to approve
061the consent agenda as presented? >> Second. >> Is that Mark Porter and Dave Easturn? All right. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. >> Uh, no public participation this evening. >> I receive none. >> Okay, we'll move along to new business here. A motion to approve the administrators, directors, and professional services contracts as presented. >> Second move by Cody, seconded by Terry. Any discussion here? I know you're just talking about it. All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. 8.2. Do I hear a motion to move the regularly scheduled March board meeting to Monday, March 23rd at 6:30 p.m.? >> So move. >> Moved by Dave, seconded by Christie. Um, any discussion? This is just to move it past spring break. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Do I
062hear a motion to set a public hearing for the proposed property tax levy on March 23rd, 2026 at 6:30 p.m.? >> So move, second move by Dave, seconded by Cody. Any discussion? That's what Dave was referring to. Uh, all in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Do I hear a motion to approve the amendment to schedule B of the master teaching contract as presented, including the elimination of the existing schedule B and schedule C and the replacement with the revised document. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Cody, seconded by Mark Porter. >> Any discussion? >> Yeah, just a quick note. um our FCA group or the union um ratified this on Sunday. So they did notify Zach and I via email that their membership did approve this improvement. So I just wanted
063to put that on the record. >> Yeah. And I would just add the the percent, you know, increase over the next three years from a a base standpoint, like what it's calculated off of is just under $10,000. And so what that equates to actually for somebody who does hold a contract in one of these areas um is just about 10% over the next three years um each year. So almost 30% total when it's all said and done. And with that we're going to be um the highest in our region other than you know a 5A school in a tumba. So it'll be it'll be good. >> Thankful for the hard work of the different people that have been a part of that that planning and Yeah. >> Yeah. Any other discussion? All in favor? I
064>> opposed. Motion carries. >> Do I hear a motion to set a public hearing on March 23rd, 2026 for the proposed fiscal year 2728 school calendar at 6:30 p.m. >> Second? >> I think it's 2728 calendar, right? Should >> Did I say 2627? I'm sorry. 2728. It's one year though, >> but it's two years away. >> Two years away. >> Next year's was already approved last year. So, this one is two years out, correct? >> Right. >> Yep. >> Okay. Fiscal year 27. It says fiscal year 27. It's fiscal year 28. So, >> it should be calendar year. >> Calendar year. Okay. >> 27 28. >> Okay. So, not the calendar next year, but the following year. >> Yeah. >> So, here a motion to approve. >> So, move. Uh moved by Mark Porter, seconded
065by Terry Wells. I think we've had some discussion on it already. Any other questions? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Do I hear a motion to approve a 3% increase for all secretarial staff as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Christie, seconded by Dave Eastburn. Any discussion here? All right. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. >> Do I hear a motion to approve the atrisisk dropout plan for the 2026 2027 school year? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Christie, seconded by Terry. Um, any discussion? >> Is this any different than what it was previously? >> Yeah, a little bit. And historically, this wasn't something that was approved at the same time as when we requested funding for it or we didn't know that. So,
066this should have been on the board meeting in December when we approved the finance component connected to it. Um, so now it's just Yeah, we had to make sure we got that right. >> Anything else? All in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. 8.8. Do I hear a motion to approve board policies at the second reading as presented? >> So moved. Second. >> Moved by Dave, seconded by Terry. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Do I hear a motion to approve board policies with no change and wave the second reading as presented? >> Moved by Terry. >> Seconded by Dave. Any discussion here? >> Are these changes or non changes? Just direction from the state just like previous policy. >> Yeah, these we just are there were no changes from ISB.
067That's what we had. We reviewed them. So we might we thought we might as well update the review date. >> Okay. So >> So it's just a date. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Pushes out the review another three years. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. >> All right. 8.9. Um, I'm calling up for consideration the resolution fixing the date for a public hearing on the proposed issuance of approximately 23,500,000 school finance in school infrastructure sales, services, and use tax revenue bonds, which requires that a public hearing be held on this proposed on March 23rd, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. >> So moved. >> Moved by Cody, seconded by Mark. any discussion? >> Yeah, I would just say again I I thank you for all your hard work and energy um the last couple
068weeks, the the work session last week getting us to a spot where I think we're we're able to move forward with a legitimate plan that's going to come to fruition and I'm thankful for that. >> Yeah. Anything else? Anyone? >> All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. Uh 8.10. Do I hear a resolution authorizing the redemption of outstanding school infrastructure sales, services, and use tax revenue bonds series 2017? Do I do these separate? >> Yeah. Okay. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Terry, seconded by Dave. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Resolution. Motion carries. Do I hear uh a motion for a resolution authorizing the redemption of outstanding school infrastructure, sales, services, and use tax revenue refunding bonds refunding bonds series 2020. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by
069Dave, seconded by Cody. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. >> All right, >> superintendent updates. >> Yeah. Um, we're excited. We just got our final draft of the second edition of the Trojan Times. So, that'll go out um sometime within the next month. We sent it to the AEA today to get printed and um folded and all the stuff so it's ready um to go out to all of our districtwide residents. Um, one of the things that we had shared with our our staff, uh, connected to, um, True North and our health plan, as we move forward, we're actually adding, um, some support from one of their employees who's got 35 plus years, um, in the healthcare industry in a lot of different roles. Um, but she's current currently um,
070acting as um, a support for our staff as they navigate different decisions and where they need to go or what should happen um, as part of their their healthcare plan. And um it's us and then another entity which is a private company um about 200ish employees. They're not charging us an additional fee for this. Um and it's already been uh useful for for multiple people. Um we'll continue to try to educate more on how this is a preventative step as opposed to a reactive um step when we get a bill or we get something that doesn't make sense um on a statement standpoint. So that's exciting. Obviously winter activities are wrapping up. Um we've got I think bowling was today, wrestling at the end of the week. Um basketball through next week too, most likely
071for the boys. Um girls ended their season this past weekend. Uh we have 25 teachers, um instructional coaches, um administrators that are attending uh PLC conference in June. Again, this directly aligns um with our student success priority and acting as a high functioning um professional learning community as interdependent team team members. So, this will be a good learning experience. It's um three days down there. Um it's it's pretty intense. Usually, you come away just overwhelmed and excited uh wanting to do all these things and you got to kind of rein it in um to make sure that we're focused on on what we can do and what's going to have the biggest impact. Um I I think you guys shared this with you, but um just wanted to make sure publicly our our middle school
072instructional coach is coming back. Um Sarah Pulk, who is currently a title teacher, um she's going to be moving into that instructional coaching role starting next year. Um we backfilled that title as well, which was all in the um the consent agenda. One of our third grade teachers is going to be moving over to the middle school to teach um title. So that's exciting. I know it's going to be good for our instructional leadership team as a whole as well. And again, that's at zero cost to us. If you saw the um consent agenda, the amount of money we're going to be spending um on contracted services with the A.E.A. um went down roughly $100,000 from the year prior. So um we're going to just bring more of that in-house um supports for for our
073teachers and our kids. Um yeah, I hit on staffing a little bit. Um we do have some science apps that that are are in and um intriguing. So that's exciting. Um, we're we still have the high school special ed opening um is still there. We're actually interviewing for arts. I know we've got one interview maybe tomorrow for that. We have a few applica applications for that. And then we interviewed last week for some of our elementary jobs, kindergarten, third grade, fifth grade. Uh we don't have any formal offers out yet as we're still working through the referencing and making sure it's the right fit for the right building because we've done those collectively um with our elementary, middle school principles, not just one or the other. So, which is a really good um way to
074do it. Can be a little bit challenging at times, but um it's a positive uh step for us. Just want to give a shout out to our our tech team. Um you know, over the last six six weeks, there's we've gotten all these new cases that have had to come, you know, to the iPads to get fixed. Again, these were free because the ones we had um there was a nuance that made it really hard for them to charge. And so, they got us all new cases. And we've seen a a big increase there. and um the uh increase in not having issues. So, we haven't had nearly as many issues, but it's been a lot for them. Uh also, they had some um professional learning uh with Apple um that came in for our
075special education teachers usually utilizing those devices and some of the um extensions and um things that they could use for accommodations for students with IEPs. And that was really really positive. Yeah. Finally, um, it's President's Day, so happy President's Day. We didn't get you any We didn't get you any present, but yeah, that's all I got. >> All right. Thanks. All right. Well, we'll move into highlights. Um, let's see. Who would like to start? Christie. >> Sure. Um it's always great having our our principles here giving us updates on what's going on in the buildings and hearing about the positive progress um that they're making. So that was great. Um I've heard a lot of positive feedback from people in the community about um our work session and our decision to move forward with um
076you know the new phase of the middle school. So I really feel good that we're headed in the right direction. And I've had a lot of people, you know, comment and, you know, say that they're glad that that's the direction that we're moving. So, um, I think that's a huge win for us. >> Great. Thanks, >> Dar. >> Um, yeah, just reiterate, it was good to hear the news of all the good work all the teachers are doing underneath the principles at the buildings and, um, hearing that the new Trojan Times is going out. I heard a lot of good feedback on that first one that went on, I think that's a good thing that we're keeping that up. Great. >> Uh, I have to agree with Christie on the direction of the middle school
077and just having a plan to move forward with and >> yeah, >> it's it's very positive. >> Great. Thanks, Mark. >> I think my highlight was is I was not at the work session. I'm still pleased with where you guys ended up. So, no, I'm kidding. Uh, but anyways, no, I woke up Tuesday and called Megan. I was like, that's exactly where I think I would have probably pushed for us to go. So, I'm glad that that's where you guys ended up. And thank you for doing that without me. I apologize. I was not able to be here, but I think you guys did a great job with us. So, um, did all of the stuff that's already been said, I guess I'll call out all of the changes from the HR committee that came
078out. I know that's been a work over the past year, if not longer. Um, so I was on the committee before. So, thanks to everybody on that committee that is also pushing and getting all that actually finalized and in order. So, hopefully that'll push our teachers to want to stay and grow for themselves. >> Great. >> Um, yeah, Mark, we did it in your name, so >> I Tuesday was going to be a long day if I disagreed. So yes, I I think that uh you know, I think everybody knew where I stand on the middle school, but I think that this is the most feasible path and uh so I appreciate everybody's hard work and uh I think we're all we have a consensus and we can fund it and I think it'll be
079good for our community. Um I really appreciate always seeing the leadership team here. Sometimes uh what they're talking about is I feel like they're speaking Russian. But, you know, um I think that there's been some wins and some disappointments, but it's really good to see the coordination between the buildings and now being able to take a student from kindergarten all the way through fifth grade um in a coordinated manner and watching their growth and investing in them. And the last thing is I I appreciate investing in the uh schedule B our our extracurricular activities and the coaches and teachers that we have in that. Uh I think that will go a long ways to meeting our uh some of our goals and our visions. So and happy presidents too. >> Thanks. >> I have a
080new highlight because you guys said them all. No. Um yeah, the I mean we kind of flew through all that new business, but there was a lot of good work in there and and you know the new the development with the middle school. So it's it's taken a while to get to some of these places even though we flew through it in I don't know 20 minutes. Um, so thank you guys all for all that hard work and um, yeah, having the principles, um, and having that consistent framework that we can kind of check in on, you know, three times a year is great. Um, and having an instructional coach and having those funds from funds that we already were, you know, that have been flowing through the A.E.A. is really great. So, it's yeah,
081looks like good things ahead. Um, thank you guys. I think that's it. Am I forgetting anything here before I ask for a motion to adjurnn? >> I hear a motion. >> So move second. >> Moved by Dave, seconded by Christie. All in favor? >> I posted. We are adjourned at 7:30 p.m.