001Let's do it. >> Good evening and welcome to the October 21st meeting of the Morgan County Board of Education. If you would please stand me for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you very much. [Music] Board members, you do have an agenda uh that you receive today in addition to the regular scheduled agenda. I entertain a motion to approve the agenda and agenda as presented. >> Second >> for second. Any comments or concerns? >> All those in favor saying I. >> I nay. >> Eyes carry it. Good things. All right. Well, I just wanted to open it up for the board if they had any good
002things to share tonight. And I'll start off, if that's okay, by addressing the uh uh it's National Principles Month and our great website person, Joan Smith, uh honors one of our principles every day, uh every week, I should say. And you can see Mr. Harris is being recognized on our website right there. It's principal Warm Springs Middle School. So appreciate all of our principal hard work. As you may know, it's a very extremely difficult job that has a lot of hours involved and we appreciate their leadership in our schools every day. Um, followed by uh chronic absenteeism uh update and Mr. Douly is going to give you an update on that next week. We our next board meeting we have a presentation. Um, National School Bus Safety Week. Miss Painter is going to talk about
003that tonight. And then one other thing I wanted to point out down here. Um, so at the West Virginia State Technology Conference, I realize these pictures are very small. Uh, two of our people did presentations, Joan Smith and uh, Tiffany. And uh, the names of their presentations were uh, let's see if I had those. I thought I had those written down, but I don't. Um, but we are very proud of them for uh being selected and presenting at the state technology conference. You'll see uh down at the bottom is Joan and Tiffany. I do believe Joan or Tiffany was dressed up as an emoji. So, let me see. I don't want to see that picture anywhere. She had a hat on the top left. >> Yeah. So, that's a kind of like an animated picture
004of >> that's her emoji up there. So, and she was actually dressed like that during her presentation. >> I think that's her. >> That's her there. >> So, just wanted to recognize both of those ladies and as as I said before, Joan does all the work on our website and our website is extraordinary. I hope we have a lot of people visit it because there's a lot of really good information on there and it celebrates uh what we do in Morton County Schools. So, that's my good things for this evening. >> I'll kick one off here. We had a great week of homecoming week. Thanksburg and all the students down there and had a fabulous time it seemed like and embarrassed Mr. Linton here. His son was homecoming king for the night. He got a
005picture or two on the football field. >> Surprises me. [Laughter] >> Did it go to his head? >> Probably. It seemed like a lot of participation across the board across all the events with the parade. Um, we didn't win the football game, but they played well. Can't complain. So, anyone else presentation? Oh, we should have kicked that off a good thing, too. School bus safety week. Anytime this painter comes and joins us, joins us, it's always a fun night. >> Yes, it is. >> No coloring books. >> I've got one. >> There we go. See, I knew we would get a coloring book or two. >> Well, it's just one this year because of our vendor registration restrictions, but we found it. >> So, we all get to color one page. Yeah, it's not the
006ongoing ongoing joke around the county. >> Huh? >> Sorry. >> The vendor registration is the ongoing funny conversation everywhere I go. >> It is. Yeah, it is fun. But, you know, we're over the home. We're getting there. It is what it is. >> Just got to deal with it. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Yes. I pulled you right back out from underneath that blessing. >> Thank you, >> Karen. Are you ready? the video. >> Okay. So, we have a um video to show you because uh um Bobby, my assistant, and I traveled down to Pleasant View Elementary today and we have busted the bus in our county um this week and he is a a motorized um talking little school bus. And um so our first trip that we've made ever to Pleasant beauty today
007was uh you know every now and then there's like really good good perks to this job and today was a really really good perk. So um those kids were so loud that like they had to put ear a lot of the kids had to get earphones on because it was so loud. They were so happy. And then this little boy that's leaning down in front of him. He cried so bad when Buster left today. Um so uh but anyhow um he is on borrow from the WVPTA which is the West Virginia Association of People Transportation. Um they bought four of them. Um, and they're housed around the state of West Virginia and all you have to do is sign them out and then return them um, free of charge. So, I put us down early
008in August for this week. So, we would have him and um, uh, it was like a cram session going down the road. Bobby was driving and I was reading the manual, but we got we got we did we did we we work well on the fly. That's what we do. So, um, cuz we're transportation. So, anyhow, we had a great time and the kids loved it. So, um, and we are visiting, um, Pawpo Elementary tomorrow. Like, our show is on the road for real. Uh, we're visiting Pawpo Elementary tomorrow, intermediate school on Thursday, and Whitmer on Friday. So, um, we ought to have it down packed by the time Friday comes. Is the big >> You should have brought him in here. >> He has to He has to be transported in a specially equipped
009bus. He has to Yes. Yes. The >> That's why the ramp was down. Okay. >> Yeah, that's why. Yeah, I know. It looked like the bus was just vacant there. We just walked away and left it. Uh but anyhow, so yeah, he has I thought about it, but it's just me, myself, and I. And that's quite a bit to get done with just one person. So, um but anyh and I really think that I have um used all of my favorites um for all year this week. I will use them all with my staff. I'm pretty sure >> it's still early. >> Yeah, I know, right? I know. I'm a little little worried about that. I'm going to have to do good Christmas gifts for him. But anyhow, um so anyhow, that's what we're doing.
010We have books for K through five. Um we October is student count. So we have to count all of our students that we transport. And um last year our numbers were 1,154 students that we trans for transport every day. Um last year our drivers drove 395,470 miles total. um 339 and 752 of those were route miles. We did 23,799 of trips. Uh Mr. Raymond Steiner did 17,697 miles to Ramsey last year. And our supplements that we do to get all of our kiddos where they need to go in between the day was 14,222. Um so we do we pack quite a bunch. Um, this year we this month we're working on bus evacuation drills. Drivers have to have that done by the end of the month. Um, and they also go over school bus safety.
011Uh, they spend a little extra time each morning. So, if you see buses kind of pulled over here and there, they're going over some extra school bus safety. This month, um, we have bought stuff to make stop the bleed kits to put in all of our school buses. It's another favor um that we'll be doing an instantly line and packing that this week. Um and uh we always do random bus inspections, but we ramp it up um this month. We just got all of our records inspected by our state inspector with 100%. >> Um let's see here. did Buster and um he was a huge hit today. I just cannot believe how those kids were so crazy about him. And um we have to have this little headset and I have to be the talk
012of Buster and they had no idea it was me. So fun. Um I know, but I'm not a good mic person, you know? So like I had to really tone her down, but we got her. I told Bobby, I was like, I don't know if I should be the one wearing the body mic, you know, but we made it. We made it. Uh, and then, um, just want to thank you guys for the opportunity. I'll be going to the, uh, NAP, um, concert or no, no, not a concert. No, I'm not. No, I'm conference um later on this month. And the classes that I'll be taking is um, bus accident, special needs, and leadership. So busy week, busy month. And we have a video, right, Aaron? Yes. >> I think of all the kids. That's
013my favorite thing to do. doing from school? >> Yeah, >> you do. >> What's your favorite part of riding the bus? >> I promise his voice doesn't sound like that. >> With Mr. Greg. >> He's a fun guy, isn't he? >> Mr. Greg, he's not as Buster was doing some wheelies and the kids were loving it. Hey, wait. We need to have Mr. Craig do really. >> Oh my. Anyhow, so >> it was fun. Yeah, I know, right? We told Greg. I was surpris He had no idea. He hasn't seen Buster. They don't know. When Greg got down there, he was probably bombarded with, "You're not as cool as Buster." Buster. >> Yeah. He's going to be like, "Who's Buster? your mom being links. >> So, that's what I have for you guys this year.
014>> Have to file a grievance. >> I know. >> I'm I'm surprised he didn't stop in and see me this afternoon, but I'm sure the kids told him all about it on their way home today. [Music] >> Bus is pretty cool. >> Any questions? No. Mr. Banks, are you up for beginning of the year data or are you >> these pulling in some help? >> Two ladies on the end are going to handle that tonight. >> Summer Mcccleintoch and Beth Golden are going to talk about BOI data. Very proud of our results and some comparisons to last year. So >> quite a presentation. >> Yeah. Door is yours. >> We always start with the little >> younger to older. So good things in elementary we have that all K5 students beginning year proficiency scores are
015comparable to both state and national averages in reading and math. We have K3 students scoring on or above grade level in biological awareness and informationational text. That has actually increased from fall of last year to this year. And that's really important as we think about the third grade success act, seeing that increase in funological awareness. And then also, you're going to see as we move throughout the slides, second and fourth grade proficiency has increased in every single reading domain from last fall through this fall. And some highlights of good things happening in big kid world. Um the middle school ELA proficiency increased 7% from BOI last year to VOI this year. and we'll look at that more and further in the presentation. Um, the middle school math proficiency increased 6% from last year's DOI to
016this year's. And I wanted to highlight as a good thing, the instructional empowerment partnership is really off to a strong start and we have all three secondary schools involved. Now, our principles are working really hard. Change is hard. Leading change is harder, I think. And I especially want to give a shout out to Paul because they are working really hard this year. Um, and they have some great things in place already even after the first nine weeks. So I'm going to dive into elementary data. So the first slide shows our K5 beginning of the year reading proficiency in comparison to state and national averages and also in comparison to the national norm which the national norm is statistically where we would expect our students to fall at the beginning of the year. So that's good
017to see that we're kind of comparable across those uh different comparisons. If you look at where we are beginning of the year, this year less students this year are below level then um or as compared to the state and national average. Just a reminder about what these colors mean because they do mean something different at beginning of year versus end of year. So the dark green are students who have most of their grade level standards and some of the grade level standards above them. So the light green are students who are going to have some of their own grade standards. So that's good at the beginning of the year and we are at 23% of our students um being on or above grade level. If you look at the yellow bar at beginning of the
018year that means that those students have their previous grade level standards and so that means that they are ready for on grade level standards and we are at 49%. So if you combine those two total we're looking at 72% of our students are ready to learn. The next slide is still looking at our overall K5, but it's looking at how those placements have changed from fall to fall. So, we've been using I Ready now for three years. So, if you look, the first bar is 2020 or 2023 to 2024. And you can see that we're slowly increasing our on and above grade level. The students ready to learn is we're maintaining that's staying steady, but there's a slight decrease also in the students below grade level overall. and and I Ready is being used across
019the nation. That's how you get these national. >> Yeah. So, what they did, there's kind of a little description there actually on this slide um where they tested within the same window the the whole state. And so, we were within that window. And then they also did any student who's using I Ready across the nation for the national average. And then they get the national norm a little bit differently. That's kind of like where statistically we would be predicted to fall, but there's an explanation of that in there as well. And then this is digging down grade by grade. So the first part here is K through two. Once again, comparable across state and national averages in reading. Um just a reminder, kindergarten, you will not see red in kindergarten because you can't be two
020grade levels below. But you do start to see that in first grade. but it kind of progresses and increases throughout the grades because you have more of a chance of being two or three grade levels above when you move through the grades. Where I see that we're um a little less than the state national average is in first grade with our one or above we're at 7%. But then when you add that in with the 79% that are ready to learn you have an overall 86% ready to learn in first grade. And this is that same information just for grades three through five. So looking across that data, pretty comparable. You can see that fourth grade has a stronger start than the state and national average. So we know that some good things are happening
021in third grade. If you combine the students ready to learn in yellow with the students born or above, we're looking at about 5050. So about half of our students are on target or higher. So that's a really good place to be to start. Looking at specifically third grade and fifth grade, this year's data, we see about half the students that are below level needing intervention. But a good thing is we know who those students are, where they are, and what they need. And intervention is working to increase growth in those areas and those grades. This is K through five reading looking across the last three years comparing fall and fall. [Applause] So a couple of things to point out there is starting in second grade on at least a quarter of the students are on
022or above grade level. And once again looking at fourth grade you can see they um have a stronger start this year as opposed to when we first started doing it already in 23 24. Okay, switching to math. K through five, beginning of the year math proficiency. This is overall K through five comparing to state and national average. One thing to point out here is you'll notice that the one or above for math is 12% which is about half what reading is. So we do know that as a county we are stronger in reading than we are in math. But once again, if you combine that with the students approaching grade level standards, then you have a good balance with math and reading. It's only a few percent off. So that's a good place to be
023to that um when you look at all of the students ready for grade level material, it's pretty balanced between reading and math. And then this is an overall look at K through five, the last three years for the fall benchmark. So, we're seeing a small increase at that one or above pretty much maintaining the students ready to learn and a decrease in below level. And then going back to drill down, this is our K2 compared to state and national average. And then this is our five compared to state national. This one shows how those beginning of the year proficiency scores have been changing from the 23 24 school year to present. You'll see that K through 4 has had a pretty consistent start to the school year. But interestingly enough, in fifth grade, we see
024a stronger start in math this year than we have in the past. Fourth grade reading, fifth grade math, we've had a huge decrease from the students below level in 23 24 from 54% to 39%. This year, this particular slide looks at specific domains for reading. And so there are a couple really good things to point out here. So you'll notice that second and fourth grade beginning of the year have the strongest beginning of the year scores. So that's a good indication that some good things are happening in first and third grade. So let's take a look at these beginning of the year second graders. They increased at least some percent um in all areas. the kind of like the bright teal color is 0 to 5% from last year and that darker blue is greater
025than 5%. And so this is important with the science of reading. We know that by the time students exit first grade, they need to be strong in those funological awareness and phonics skills. And so this shows that we've got some good instruction, good things happening there. Specifically in phonics, that domain at 32% of the students already being on or above grade level in phonics is above the national norm. So that's exciting. And then fourth grade, this is also good news because of the House Bill 3035 where we want all kids reading on grade level at the end of third grade. This column shows that more students this year versus last year are starting with more third grade skills. So I think that shows that we're moving in the right direction. We've got some good supports
026in place. Fifth grade also had increases in all domains minus vocabulary which the fifth grade teachers have already identified that in their own data analysis. And so we had our HMH interreing coach come a couple weeks ago and do some modeling with vocabulary lessons and routines. And then this is that same information just for the mathematic domains. So once again, third grade stands out as a really strong grade. So not only are they leaving third grade as good readers, but they're also leaving third grade as strong mathematicians. So specifically in fourth grade, the thing to highlight there is the algebra and algebraic thinking. they had an increase to 34% of the students starting at or on at or above grade level in that domain. This is an area that third grade's really been working on
027because the GSA trend data had showed that that domain was weak. And so that was exciting to see that their work has paid off that there was an increase and that particular domain falls above the national average. And then the other exciting thing to point out is if you remember the preK goals, they were working hard on number operations in geometry. If you look at our beginner or kindergarteners, they have increased from last fall to this fall. And specifically the number of operations in geometry are also both above the national norm as well. And then so some elementary next steps for continuing to utilize our schoolbased elementary instructional coaches implementing spring math K5 to build those foundational skills that students are missing in mathematics. We're continuing with writing support for our teachers, unpacking the math
028standard so they get to know what the standard means, what kind of instruction that they can use, and what the success criteria is. What does it look like if a student has mastered that standard? We're continuing with our letters cohort. We've had two sessions so far. We're also implementing a K to2 evidence researchbased uh reading intervention program for our tier 2 and then continuing our science of reading and numeracy teams to help lead us through the third grade success. That's it. Unless you want to do questions now. >> Yes, please. Board members questions. >> So, what year do we start holding third graders back? >> 26 27. >> Okay. And then >> they don't get one of the >> So, is which which red is it? Both reds >> that will be held back. >>
029Well, not necessarily all reds. So it looks specifically at students that are below the cut score and then you can still be above the cut score because maybe you are great at comprehension but you still have trouble with decoding. So they're also going to be looking at those domains that we talked about the phological awareness phonics high frequency words to make sure they're above the cut score in those domains. So then if they're below the cut score those are the students we're going to be looking at unless they meet one of the exceptions. >> Okay. Thank you. Am I accurate that this is looking at beginning of year fall >> 25, beginning of year fall 24? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And so if you follow the graphs, you can kind of see some
030cohort data as you go through. Yeah. And you can also but when you look at beginning of the year, you can't you're comparing from fall to fall apples to oranges because they're different students. Well, what that gives you insight is into the kind of instruction that's happening. So >> correct. And that that's what I wanted to make sure I wasn't looking at end of year summer versus to see the summer slide. That's was why I wanted to make sure I wasn't confusing those two numbers. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? Big kids up. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Okay. So as you may remember this year we are using two benchmarks now in grades 6 through 12. So in 6 through 8 we are still using our LL diagnostic benchmark. So the
031results that you're going to see over the next few slides are just grades 6 through 8. In grades 6 through 8 ELA just let you take a second to digest that. Sorry for all the purple and blue, but I tried to translate over the above grade level students. 30% of our students in grade 6 through 8 were above grade level in ELA. 15% were on, 15% below, 37% far below, and 3% um there weren't enough questions answered to pinpoint their score. So, a few things I wanted to highlight on this slide. Usually in past years, if we looked at the not pinpointed scores, we would have 10% or more of students that didn't get a pinpointed score and we've gotten that down to 3%. So almost all of the students in grades six through eight
032were tested. So this is representative of most every student. And another thing to highlight, if you look at the bottom left of the slide, our proficiency in ELA is up 7% from DOI last year. So I think that's a good thing. We're starting off a bit higher than what we were in the previous year. So the next slide you're going to see if I can make it new. Hello. I might have control. Oh, there's a >> So now it's like 10. Is that where you want it? >> Okay. So in math looks the same different numbers we have 9% above 21% on 26% below 41% of our students are far below and once again only 3% were not pinpointed. Um, that represents a 6% increase from last year's DOI proficiency for math, which is also
033a good thing because we're starting off in a better place than we were before. So, this breaks it down to by grade level. So, the first two bars, you're going to see what I had on those circle graphs on the previous two slides, I've translated into the bar graphs for the district there on the left. And then you can look across and see where each grade level compares. And it's actually pretty close. Our sixth graders in ELA are a little lower than the rest. Seventh and eighth are pretty much on with the district. Um and then the dark blue color is the math. And you can see that um a point where we're working is eighth grade math. Those came in a little lower at 26%. The next slide, this is cohort growth. So what
034you're looking at here, the numbers that are represented on here are actually the scale scores. And just to remind you, the scale scores incl the first number represents grade level. So if you see in grade six in ELA, it says 505, that means fifth grade like half a month. Okay? So 510 would be fifth grade one month and so on. So our sixth graders have come in as a group at a scale score of 505 which is about a year behind for everyone. Um which is pretty typical of what we've seen over the past few years. Um I didn't have anything to compare it to because those students didn't use last year. grade seven. What you're looking at there, the dark blue bar is where they came in this year and the purple bar was
035would be where they were last year. So as sixth graders, so the current seventh graders 639 this year at BOI. Last year at BOI they were at 473. So the math I did not do that and scribble that on there, but you can see how much they've increased in a year. And the same with the 8 641 to 747. So that just shows you how the students are comparing over time. And then with the math, we don't see quite um the same kind of growth, but generally we're seeing a year's worth of growth in a year, but we want to see more than that. Um if we're going to catch people up, we need to see like about 150 point increase >> is what we're looking for. And I think one of the grade levels
036did that. Maybe grade seven ELA think was one that did make that. So moving on, our new benchmark for 9 through 11 is progress learning. We're not going to have a lot to compare this to. We just have the first go around. So we use this in grades 9 through 11. Now what this is supposed to do for us is benchmark our students toward the actual PSAT 9, the PSAT 10, and the SAT that students take at the end of the year. Remembering that the only grade that's accountability grade is grade 11. This is going to be a little different with um the numbers that you're seeing the cut scores change throughout the year. So the cut scores go up as the month months progress. With progress learning, all the data, it's measuring them against
037what they should have at the end of the year. So it's going to look lower at the beginning with the hope that you're moving them up. There's no changes in the scores. It's constantly measuring them against what the end game is. So this is what this looks like in 9 through 11 total. So this is ELA proficiency for 9 through 11. And the descriptors that I'm using there are the college board descriptors and I'll explain a little bit more in the future slide, but the College Board has their own descriptors for achievement ranges, whereas the West Virginia Department of Education sort of had their own language that they translate into for 11th grade. So for grades 9 through 10, it's the College Board benchmarking system because that's not a state required test, if that makes
038sense. But in 11th grade, they've translated it over to the West Virginia Department of Education system. So what we have here for grade N or grades 9 through 11 aggregate, we have 41% met or exceeded their benchmark in ELA. 18% are approaching benchmark, which I think it's probably safe to say that by the end of the year, those students would be moved up. And then we had 41% that did not meet the benchmark. With math, we got Pac-Man going on here. Math, we have an area of focus. Obviously, we have 15% that met or exceeded the benchmark, 13% approaching, and 72% of our students did not meet the benchmark yet. Keeping in mind that this is they're measured against what's going to happen at the end of the year. We're going to break it down
039by grade. So, in grade nine, we have 53% ELA proficiency. In grade 10, our ELA proficiency is 30. Grade 11, I think I discovered that I had a a typo there. The grade 11 instead of 46% that's supposed to be 39%. I realized that as I was sitting there and then back towards the math, 22% for 98% for 10th and 15% for grade 11. So, it's pretty clear we need to work on math and secondary over across the board. um but the the scores coming up from the middle school, you can see that they have the highest scores evolve. So, as those middle school students come up, um hopefully we're going to start to see that that increase. Now, the next slides are more of the same. I put these in mostly just for your
040information to see how the the actual benchmark system like what kind of reporting it's giving me. So what you're going to see on the right hand corner, I put a chart from College Board that shows you what those College Board benchmarks are, just in case you're curious. So 9th grade and 10th grade and 11th grade, those benchmark numbers change. The test does change. So for the ninth grade, the reading and writing benchmark is 410 and the math is 450. And then those are the College Board descriptors. We had meets or exceeds 53, approaching 11, and not yet approaching 36. just a different way to look at the same data that I had on a previous slide just broken down one slide for grade level. So that's CLA. Here's the same thing for math and we're
041just now learning about all the capacity that this program has. It's actually pretty neat. But um we're we're all still learning. I'm still learning. Um, actually the company is is still act I would say they're pretty responsive. If I tell them that there's something we need in a report, they've actually changed a few things for us already in the platform. So that's really cool. Um, secondary ELA proficiency grade 10. Same thing from the previous slides, just I'm breaking it down for you so you can see what those descriptors mean for 10th grade. Bottom right hand corner in the black and white. and then grade 10 math. So, here's where it gets sort of crazy. I'm not going to go through all this with you, but what I wanted you to see is that once students
042get to 11th grade, the state department has made their own range ranges for achievement that match the GSA. So the descriptors are the same. So if you have a student in third grade, you're getting the same kind of results as a student in 11th grade, it's going to look the same. That would be confusing to parents if we use College Board descriptors for 11th grade and use um the WDE descriptors for the rest. So this is how it translates. I'm not going to go through all that. You can look at it for your reference. If you're interested in learning more about that, I'm happy to talk to you about it. But it just breaks it down into four sections instead of three. um does not meet standard, partially meets needs and exceeds. And there were
043committees of teachers from each content area that got together and they actually looked through the standards for the course and looked at the SAT questions and they came up with this whole system. It's not that different than College Board's scoring system, but it is slightly off like maybe 20 or 30 points depending on what the range is. So then I did the same thing with our 11th grade scores. And I broke them down, of course, into what the West Virginia scriptures are. It sees, needs, partial meets, does not meet, anything for math. And maybe I'll take if there's any questions about the data before we go into the next steps. have particular questions about the data, how it's reported, other things you'd like to see throughout the year. >> I have some questions about math,
044but I'll hold done. >> Okay. Anybody else have questions before I go over the next step? >> All right. So, what are we going to continue? We're going to continue using ISL for benchmarking in grades six through eight. It's working there. Seems to be at least. was our scores at the end of year last year with 6 through eight were pretty comparable to our GSA results. So, we're going to keep on keeping on and we're going to continue our pacing and curriculum mapping. We just had a great professional development day yesterday where we worked on our curriculum mapping. Um teachers continue to work on that project. I said my goal was we have the best curriculum maps in the state and I got some eye rolls, but it's gonna happen. We're building that. um continue
045our partnership with instructional empowerment to increase rigor and student agency. We have Chris Gallon with us this year. We have one person from instructional empowerment and she is fabulous. She works with our um principles. She works with our teachers. She works with our students, with our instructional coach. Um she's sort of tying everything all together with all three secondary schools. Um continuing our focus on standardsbased instruction at a higher level. What are we adding this year? We obviously added progress learning as a 9 through11 benchmark aligned with PSAT 18910 and the SAT. One of the really neat things that we did about a month ago, um we added a session with ISL professional development and they helped us to create a middle school learning plan that was in line with our district initiatives. So what
046we're doing with IE, how can I best support that and not be like that we're going two different directions? Like how how can we embed the ISL in a way that supports our IE initiative. Um and that that professional development was for the principles, the assistant principles, myself and our instructional coach. And then of course we added Paul for instructional empowerment um partnership at grade 6 through 12. And that's that. So now, well there's launch here. That's my pick for today. And that's just one of our capturing kids techniques that we use. >> That leads right into my conversation that I want to have about math. Um math is a challenge and I guess uh my baseline starts with I know seventh and eighth grade math becomes more difficult to say the least. um with
047the different pathways. So when I say pathways, every classes you're taking and watch time, geometry, algebra for one over two. Um my question regarding in prior years, we've used that and correct me if I'm wrong, but anytime we've used that as not only a benchmarking tool, but as a remediation tool and as a tool that gets assigned in order to help students move forward with these test scores, that's concerning. with EXL being that is six, seventh, and eighth continue to being used as we see these test scores in ninth and tth grade. Is that still going to be our plan that we're using those as a I hate to say remediation to lesson, I'm trying to say a daily lesson, daily assigned time. >> I'm going to try to answer that because I think I
048understand your question. If I don't if I'm not answering it like the way you need, just say something. We just had this conversation today. We had um Chris, our IE coach, was here today and we had what we call partner coaching session at Wilm Springs Middle School and that involves an administrator from each of the secondary schools and our big topic today was math and our big topic was how can we um use leverage there's so much in there you can do and you're right you can you know the kids take the diagnostic and then they get put into a pathway based on their weaknesses and they can build their skills that way. Typically the middle schools do that in a retach period. >> Okay? >> So, they're focusing on that. And the recommendation is
049two skills per week scoring an 80 or higher. And if you've had middle school kids, you know what that means and you know that the dumps them back if they don't get to the 80 and then they the kids start screaming and they get mad at the flag department. Anyway, but it's getting them to proficiency. That's the point. Um, so that's one use of it. Um, but it also does have the standards aligned lessons in it. So, a teacher could use that in a part of their class where they're teaching on grade level content. Um, actually our textbooks are embedded, our math textbooks are embedded in there straight into it. Um, their standards aligned um activities that teachers can track whether students are actually meeting the standards, not just the skills, if that makes sense.
050Um, so we're trying to work we're navigating how to work all that together. Um, I guess is the answer I'm trying to give. >> That's a fine answer and that's and that's what I was kind of asking. And so what you're expressing to me, not put words in your mouth. The tool is a good tool and it's in line with our so then I'm going to go down to conversation. How many certified math teachers do we have going down this road? And is that our challenge versus >> the certified math teachers um elementary I mean not elementary >> middle school how many >> I don't need to expect 50% of classrooms have certified math teachers 30% of classrooms have certified math teachers 20% >> high school is much less middle school much less middle school's
051probably around probably 40 to 50 but high school about Okay. Okay. >> I'd like to just jump in here for a second because if you remember back uh before school started, we we struggle obviously to find a certified teachers in Palpaw as well. And so our plan this year trying something innovative was to have students use the West Virginia virtual school platform with a facilitator in the room and Mike Wilder coming in two days a week to support and that seems to be going very well. Um the kids really are responding to Mike Wilder as we all knew that would happen. But I also really appreciate the West Virginia virtual school teacher and the communication between that teacher and the facilitator. I think that's going much better than we expected and I I thought that
052could be an issue. Um so I think it's a model to consider uh if we continue to have uncertified uh math teachers uh that facilitate a role with more of an expert that checks in to help students along the way. But so far so good at Paula and with that model in place. >> I just spoke with Mrs. Casey Camp today about that and she was very pleased with the grades in math this nine weeks. She they were much higher than what she thought. She said the kids are doing well. They're not failing the course. They're they're all doing well enough. Um >> I'm sorry. We also have an assistant principal at Brooks Prince High School who was a previous math coach and he is a huge asset there. We're learning that he has a
053lot of experience in coaching math teachers. So, we're just going to use him for that. >> We know math teachers are hard to come by. There's a reason they put a supplement in for math teachers. Um, I was trying to narrow down what your feeling was, whether it was a tool or whether it was a it was a touch point from the kids. And so, this is something we need to monitor and whether or not uh revamp of how we approach this mass situation with our current schools. in my opinion. So, he was posted on that situation. >> I think our Berkeley Springs High School math department is very open to feedback and getting support. Um, it's just the same thing as anybody else who might come into a classroom and never been a teacher
054before. They're starting back here. And so, um, the level of professional development is really high that's needed with these, uh, long-term subs. And we're not even talking about content, you know, we're talking about managing a classroom and all the things that go along with rigor, engagement, those things. But knowing the content is a whole different thing that uh you know, we have some very smart math teachers that do know the content, but relaying it to students is a whole different uh ball game. >> So, anything else? Sorry, my computer's got sound. Thank you ladies very much. Appreciate your time. Very wonderful done presentation. I appreciate all the graphs. A lot to digest there. Anxious to see how middle year looks. Reports and communications. Um I'll just touch on what we briefly talked about before the
055meeting. Uh soccer regional match for the ladies. uh starts tomorrow night at home for Morfield. Uh they got a number two seat and uh if they win they move to play home again on Saturday. Um so they have good opportunity. Proud of them. Football heads to Shady Spring off to a long five hour rest down to there. So safe travels. There's a play at the high school. >> Oh, yes. Saturday. >> Play this weekend. >> Yes. >> I think many people's time is coming up this year as well. So, >> I don't know. Something about ghost. >> Yeah. >> And we probably all know how much work is involved in that. And Amy Taylor, her class have really done a nice job. It's great to have plays back. Superintendent, >> a few things for you
056tonight. Um, just I believe I mentioned this before, but we are headed to Charleston for our uh needs project uh interview on November 3rd at 1:00. Probably be a trip down and back the same day. Looking forward to that trip. And there is no there is no virtual option. >> Is this what what was this the two two rooms? >> Yeah. >> Uh we have been Jeremy and uh several others have been interviewing for sub positions. We're getting a lot of interest in sub positions. So that's good news and uh obviously much needed. Uh, as just as an example, today we had a vacancy as a secretarial position at Windmire and thankfully Betsy and two of the other secretaries from the office went down to cover, but that's pretty normal to have uncovered service personnel
057positions, but uh, Mr. Douly's really done a good job of trying to fill those. Um, we have an interview tomorrow with ZMM, our our architect for Brooklyn Springs High School building a roof. So, uh, get an opportunity to talk to them in more depth about, um, working with us. Um, in your folder is some information, uh, some additional accountability information about CTE and it breaks it down there and let this kind of gives you a feel for how complicated things can be um, in terms of how you're evaluated for certain things at the State Department. But there's several categories. Participation, concentration, completion, workbased learning, performance, endorsements, and then here it's based on a scale of 100, and the target is 75, and Morgan County is at a 92. So, we're very, very proud of that
058number. It always hasn't always been there. And I know Beth is learning CTE, so she may be able to add. Did you want to add some additional information? I wish I had that in front of me because I don't know well enough to >> I can have this one if you'd like >> if if they have any questions I can certainly try to answer them probably help me I can't so the participation is if they've completed one class um one CT class concentrator is two completer of course is all four with the nocti test and those kind of qualifications there's also a middle school component up under the first one. Six points for middle school. And you see we only got five points, which we should have gotten six, but it was a weakness thing.
059So, we'll get that fixed out. We'll have six points next year. Um, the workbased learning, I believe we got full points, and I was very thrilled by that because that's typically been a weakness that we've had. Um, the teacher, I think the last one is the teacher >> performance and their endorsements, >> the endorsements. um you can't always have that perfect because what ends up happening is you might have a teacher um let's just say a counselor at Berkeley Springs High School has um a student on her course load like that she's listed as the teacher because the student is taking it the course virtually um and then she's not counted as a certified teacher so it's all this we would like I don't know what word do you use technicality is what it is
060It's learning how to play the game and we're we're learning and 92 is an exceptional score for the game. >> So, >> great. >> And the last thing I want to mention tonight, um I'm I've been very sad since I heard this news. and and I'll try to keep it keep composure, but uh Kate Evans um we've lost Kate Evans and uh uh the word that comes to mind whenever I think about her is kind. I I've never met anybody as kind as Kate and as patient as Kate and as committed to covering the school district as Kate. She was always there and whether it was good news or bad news or indifferent news, she was always there and always called to get both sides of the story. And uh the integrity that she had
061just unmatched. Uh I I just can't go on enough about her integrity. She loved education and she loved being around kids and uh we're really going to miss her. She was just it felt like she was part of our school system. >> That's how uh how much she meant to me and a lot of others uh in our school system. So sorry to hear her loss and that's what I what I wanted to end on. >> Very kind words. Well, I uh had about at least 30 years with Kate and I remember meeting her the first time at Greenwood and one of the things she emphasized that she wanted to change in her reporting was that the outlying schools would get a fair shot with the publicity and the activities and uh it was the
062making of a beautiful friendship because she always took good care of us. uh she would call I dealt with her as a teacher, as a principal, as a coach, and as a board member, very fair, very positive. You know, >> you look at some situation that wasn't very good at all, and Kate would find some good points to make in those situations. Um she called me one time said she wanted to do a story on Morgan C County agriculture but she had one minor problem. She knew nothing about farming. I said well sometimes I feel the same. Um and she said he asked me for help and I said well let me do something. I'll give you five real good solid farmers who've done it forever and talk and I'll give you get phone numbers
063and everything else and then if you want more if you want my perspective as a person at that point was just getting into it full-time please let me know. Well, she didn't. And she wrote a remarkable uh story, remarkable encompassing information. She made it seem like she'd grown up on a farm. And we talked eventually and she says, you know, she said four out of the five farmers I had a chance to talk to, just so impressed with the quality of agriculture and our farmers. And um she thanked me for that and I said well I said I these are people I look to and and learn as well. And I I just thought about the pu the professionalism she always showed. She'll come in here she used to come in here with things slung
064over both arms and pads and I was waiting for something on top of her head. Um, and then I thought of um her music background and all the talents she did and in so many times for organizations for free to help raise money or whatever. >> Um, very good professional in her own right. Loved I used to love the articles where she would have 10 great love songs for Valentine's Day. And it's amazing how many times she and I agreed on these things. And every once in a while I say something to her about, "Did you ever listen to Paul McCartney's My Valentine?" No, I haven't heard that. So we'd go back and forth just uh I I I look at her life and I hope when I'm close to being finished, I can say
065I was as good as she is. >> So I love her. I miss her. She was one of a kind and uh anybody who knew her would were greatly enriched by her presence. >> Thank you both for those kind words. Thank you very much. Public comments. Item eight. No public comments for this evening. Item nine, consent agenda. The superintendent recommends approval of following consent actions as presented. Minutes of the October 7th, 2025 record meeting, payment of bills, budget adjustments. You have some in your agenda as well. Uh and volunteers are both in agenda and on your agenda. Entertain a motion to approve those as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> Thank you. Thank you. Concerns or comments. >> All those in favor of saying I >> nay. The eyes carried. Personnel superintendent recommends approval
066of finding personnel actions as presented. Towards your sir. >> All right. So on the agenda here professional personnel we have a substitute teacher this resign at the last meeting we approve to add the board certified behavior analyst and we have been able to fill that position with know your name there. That is funded by the grant. Um, under service personnel, we're bringing on an itinerary classroom aid at B Springs High School, which is much needed. Under extracurricular there, we have um letters A through D are all mentor teachers that will be working with our some of our new staff this year. And then we have an after school program teacher at Paul and then also our grasp coordinator. Um under letter D for professional self-development we're asking for uh individual there for new ministry committee
067number two is for pacing planning and I believe that is back under letter G this is a so we need to update our supplemental salary scale because of some recent additions to personnel so we removing the executive secretary from service personnel here at central office and in that place we're adding that professional administrator ship assistant superintendent. There is no supplement with that, but there is extended days of 55 days on that. Then also that the next piece there is the behavior certified or board certified behavior analyst with a supplement and extended days for that position as well listed. Um on the agenda, we have an unpaid leave of absence there. Uh we are asking uh for a self-contained special education teacher at Wigmire. Again, just the challenges that we continue to face for lower grades
068just continue for us to have to try anything that we're trying to get done with those. Um, under service personnel, we have an extended leave of absence and we will be posting as a long-term sub tomorrow to try to get that bill with a long-term sub instead of doing daytoday. Um, we have a resignation from athletic director War Springs Middle School. Uh it's not effective until November 14th which should give us time to get that filled between now and the next board meeting. Um under uh the next thing there is employment we're bringing on after school teacher MCF3 teacher at Berkeley Springs High School and then also another MCF3 teacher at Whitmire under letter D. Uh it's for impacting the standards for number one. Number two is for facing planning. Number three is for new
069teacher training. That should cover all of the personnel. >> I move we accept the personnel presented. >> I have a second. >> A second. >> Mr. Berg. >> Any comments or questions? All those in favor of saying I nay. Thank you very much. Program planning item A. Approve Robert Meyer to attend the Midwest Music Clinic Music Educators Conference in Chicago, Illinois on December 16th to the 19th, 2025. Funny source travel funded by the instructor substitute funded by county. I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> Any concerns or comments? All those in favor saying I n. >> Item B, approve Ian helmet to attend the Midwest music clinic music educators conference in Chicago, Illinois, December 16th to 1925. Funding source save the music scholarship. >> I'll make that motion. >> That one second. You just
070ask question. No, I'm good. Okay. Second. Any questions or comments? All those in favor saying I >> oppos. Nay. I carry it. You two guys have fun. >> Come back re-energized for some music. So on behalf of Mr. Myers and myself, thanks for approving, inviting us to attend this good professional development. Like you said, come back to energize. >> Yep. That's what conferences always do. >> They are better. make some contacts. >> Yep. >> Counter events board November 4th here, those attending the trainings. Any comments or questions on the calendar? >> No. But um 65 days till Christmas. Let him say anything else. We're motion to adjurnn. >> So move. >> I got a second on that. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> We are journed. Have a good night everybody. >>
071212 days till graduation. >> I was just going to say look at graduation on here. Oh gosh.