Agenda for the August 22nd Board Meeting is up

The agenda for Monday night's Board meeting has been posted on the District 3 website. You can get a copy of it here. Among the items listed:

• Presentation from County Treasurer Bill LeFew
• District Reading Group Study
• Initial 2005 ISAT Results
• Class Enrollment Numbers
• Approve FY06 Tentative Budget and Set Public Hearing Date
• Approve Updated Job Descriptions for Superintendent, Algonquin Road School Principal, and Assistant Superintendent for Instruction and Middle School Principal

Should be an interesting meeting. Hope to see you there.

Volunteer Coaches Needed -- Soon!!

This was posted to the e-mail group by Dr. Mahaffy, and I'm posting it to the blog as well to help get the word out:

"We are dangerously close (August 24th) to canceling the boys soccer and girls 6/7 basketball season due to not having a coach. We need to keep our kids active and it helps create a sense of school spirit when our students are engaged in conference activities. We also need volunteers to keep the scorebook and run the clock at basketball and volleyball games this year. This could be done by a reliable high school student also that would like to give a little back to our school."

This is something that the people of Fox River Grove can do for the schools to make a direct, positive impact on the students and the community. It doesn't require any additional tax funds. All it requires is your time. You can help the students keep their activities, and you can help you and your neighbors keep their taxes from going up by donating some time to coach, assist, run a scoreboard, or help out in a number of different ways. I urge you to consider helping with at least one activity, if you can at all. Please contact Dr. Mahaffy at mahaffyt@dist3.org or (847) 462-2324 to volunteer or to get more information.

County Treasurer William LeFew to Appear at August 22nd Board Meeting

County Treasurer William LeFew is scheduled to make a short presentation at the August 22nd School Board meeting. His announcement says he will cover the following:

• The functions of the Treasurer's office as they relate to local governments - what we can do to help you.
• The process of real estate taxes and 6 ways you can lower your real estate taxes.
• Methods of tax payments.
• What more can we do to help you and your constituents?
• Answer questions.

Now, I have no idea whether or not the Board will allow questions or input from the audience for this, but it should be an interesting presentation. If you are concerned about taxes or school funding in the community, I would urge you to attend the meeting on Monday, August 22nd at 7:00 PM in the Middle School Library.

July 25th Board Meeting -- Reading Room Study Results (Preliminary, Part 3)

Continuing with the discussion....

Board Member Steve Knar asked Dr. Mahaffy who decides to move students from level to level. Dr. Mahaffy said that the student's Reading teacher makes that decision.

He went on. "Do we hit it right all the time? Probably not. But we do a good job with the data we have [including data from the Diagnostic Reading Center]. We don't have the Iowa test scores in yet [when these decisions are made]."

Board Vice-President Doris Sadik said that she was surprised to see that 50% of students get to grade-level reading. She said she thought it would have been higher. She said she was shocked that half of the students stay at the lower level.

She went on to say that if you ask the teacher how a student is doing as they progress through grades, they'll say the student is leveling off. "What does this mean," she wondered. She asked if there was anything that the district can do for the students reading below grade in the 4th and 5th Grades, or do we say "that's just the child"? She wondered how we get these students to Honors-level English classes when they are in High School.

Dr. Mahaffy responded that not all students progress the same. "Is that the philosophy?" Sadik challenged. Dr. Mahaffy said no, it's not the philosophy, it's the child.

Sadik wondered if it was a lofty thought to think that the district will get all students reading at grade level. Dr. Mahaffy replied that it was still the goal. He went on to say that the district doesn't' stop teaching reading in later grades, but they stress Reading to Learn, instead of Learning to Read. He said that under the Federal No Child Left Behind law, all students will have to read at grade level. He said that may not be achievable unless the Federal Government lowers the bar. He stressed that District 3 will not lower the bar.

Dr. Krause added that, in order to progress, every day the student must be presented with text at his or her level. She looked at conclusions that can be drawn from this. What do parents know of the qualifications a student needs for each Reading level? She said that the district can do a better job of standardizing and informing parents of the expectations of each Reading level.

With students in full-day Kindergarten, Sadik wondered, did we get students more reading time when they were struggling? Absolutely, said Dr. Krause.

Dr. Mahaffy said the question is, by the 4th Grade, are all students in the same book? The answer is yes.

Board Member Nunamaker, thinking of the goal of everyone reading at grade level, said this is a great time to be a Board Member, because this is a job for an administrator.

Sadik continued on the topic of students at the lower reading levels, saying that she doesn't want these students to lose opportunities. Dr. Mahaffy agreed, saying that you don't want to say that 15% of students at the lower level is OK.

Board Member Mollett said that opportunity is what the district is offering, but that some students don't take it.

Sadik said that it would be great to have 2 classes of Honors Algebra, for example.

Dr. Krause added that where the students in the lower levels are today is not the same place as they were years ago. The curriculum has been notched up over the years. Dr. Mahaffy noted that the below-level group in District 3 is reading at the National norm. He said that we have higher expectations in this district.

Knar summarized that Dr. Mahaffy was pleased with the higher-level curriculum and with the students who move out of the lower Reading levels, but that he was surprised that 50% of students didn't make it out of the lower group. Dr. Mahaffy responded that he didn't know what to expect.

"What do you make of it?" asked Knar.

Dr. Krause said that it showed that students do make it out of the lower levels. She said that the community may think that once a child is tracked, they are locked it, and that was not the case.

Knar said that the 50% out result shows the the district is doing something right. Dr. Mahaffy said that it could be seen as the glass being half-full or half-empty. He said that we should be on the side of getting all of the students out of the lower levels.

Sadik still wanted to look at the students that remain in the lower levels. "What's our plan of action?", she wondered. Zasadil said that some things, like home life, are out of our control. Dr. Krause responded "Yes, but our philosophy is to teach the students we have."

Nunamaker stated that the data analysis was great. "I applaud you for doing it."

Dr. Mahaffy said that they looked at the data and worked to identify what to do with the students who were struggling. He said that when they see three kids struggling, they get concerned with those three kids.

Zasadil said that in the August 22nd Board Meeting, they will discuss the analysis that Tim Kassel has been helping with. Dr. Mahaffy said that they will continue working with Kassel to see what further analysis will yield.

July 25th Board Meeting -- Reading Room Study Results (Preliminary, Part 2)

Continuing....

Dr. Mahaffy began presenting, looking at the question of how much gain did students in the lower group make. While in 1st Grade, 9 of 17 students were moved out of the lower Reading group. In the 2nd Grade, 3 of 10 were moved out. In the 3rd Grade, 7 of 10 were moved out. He then looked at students in the 4th and 5th Grades, when they were in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grades. (This went a little fast for me, too, and I didn't have the slides that were being shown, so I will recommend looking at the meeting minutes when they are posted for some clarification on this group.) Overall in the study, 28 of 57 students were moved out of the lower Reading group.

It is important to note that the students in the lower Reading group are not constant -- students are moved both into and out of the lower group, so when there is a number of students in the lower group through the years, these are not necessarily the same students.

Dr. Mahaffy highlighted this point by looking at the 5th Graders, and noting that while they were in 1st Grade, one student was in the lower group, then in the 2nd Grade, 7 students were in the lower group. He said that he would hope that by 4th and 5th Grade, all of the students would have moved up from the lower group, but that hasn't happened.

Board President Zasadil noted that these students did not have the benefit of the Diagnostic Reading Center.

Dr. Mahaffy said that ITBS scores are a valuable indicator toward assessing students' progress, but it's not the only indicator. Others include fluency checks, Diagnostic Reading Center scores, and homework that can be assessed by teachers. He went on to say that students reading below grade level are averaging 1 year of growth, and the other students (at or above grade level) are averaging 1.1 years of growth.

He added that he and Dr. Krause will continue to work with Tim Kassel to determine if the preliminary results are statistically significant.

It was at this point that the discussion started to really take off. I'll continue that on the next post.....

July 25th Board Meeting -- Reading Room Study Results (Preliminary, Part 1)

In the Superintendent's Report section of the meeting, Dr. Krause presented some preliminary results from the study of test scores within the reading group sections. Scores were looked at both in aggregate, and within groups. Also looked at was movement from one reading group to another relative to test scores.

The conversation was very fast, and there were slides shown at the presentation that were not in my visitor packet, so I won't pretend that this is in any way a complete journal of the discussion and data that took place. For more on this, I will advise you to read the minutes from the meeting, which should be published on the District 3 website on or around Tuesday, Aug. 23. What I will do is try to capture some of the discussion that took place. And what a discussion it was!

The Board has gotten some criticism over the years for speaking and acting in lockstep, and some of this criticism is well-deserved. Though I have seen some active discussions in my time attending Board meetings, these are few and far-between, and there are many times when Board Members will echo each other before casting their unanimous votes.

This was *not* one of those discussions. It was frenetic at times; there were differences of opinion, challenges, ideas, reflection; it was open, and above all, the whole discussion came off as an honest assessment of where we are as a school district and what still needs to be done; what has worked and what hasn't. Assumptions and points-of-view were challenged, but the discussion was always positive and focused where it needed to be; on the students. It was, by far, the best discussion I have yet seen at a Board Meeting.

I will try to capture some of the points made in the discussion as they went by. Look at the minutes to see what was said faster than I can write.

Dr. Krause explained that when Kindergarteners enter the 2nd semester, their reading level is assessed one-on-one. They then go into the Diagnostic Reading Center in small groups. A year later, they are tested again one-on-one. The same tests are used to measure progress. She explained that these tests are not administered in groups, like other tests like the Iowa tests are.

In the data she presented, she said that 12 students tested below average.

Board Member Doris Sadik asked if any of the students do any of this kind of testing before entering the Diagnostic Reading Center. Dr. Krause replied no.

Board Member Steve Knar asked if underachieving students' parents are notified of their child's status via report cards. Dr. Krause responded that report cards give an assessment of what needs to be done.

Teacher Beth Diller, who has been working in the Diagnostic Reading Center, said that they follow a scripted program with small groups. She said that small groups can give the teachers a better idea of progress made and who needs additional help.

Board Member Doris Sadik asked if parents are notified about what happens in the Diagnostic Reading Center. At the annual Open House, is it addressed by the Kindergarten teachers? Dr. Krause said that the center may be addressed by First Grade teachers at the Open House, but there is no script for them to follow as to how to present it. Sadik followed up, saying that she felt if more parents knew about the center and all it does, they might support it and work with it more.

Dr. Krause went on to say that, with all-day Kindergarten and the Diagnostic Reading Center, students are immersed in Reading. She added that some students aren't reading yet, but they are getting the skills.

Board Member Bob Nunamaker wondered if the district was really bad with Reading before all-day Kindergarten and the Diagnostic Reading Center. Dr. Krause responded that the district wasn't really measuring it. Now that these programs are in place, the expectations have ramped up. District 3 needs to look at results over time, and look at longitudinal results. Should the district be concerned about one student at the lowest level? Yes.

Dr. Krause continued, saying that the results show all students, including students in special education. The expectation is that students should be reading in Kindergarten. This is not like when Kindergarten students were in class 2.5 hours a day.

The Board looked at results that followed a class through elementary grades. Board Member Tom Mollet asked if there were 13 students in the study that were a concern while in the 1st Grade. Dr. Krause responded that we don't know if the 13 students in the lower level of 1st Grade Reading are the same as those with lower scores in Kindergarten.

Dr. Krause added that she looked at the Reading score data with Dr. Mahaffy, and that they met one afternoon with Tim Kassel to address his concerns, and see if they were looking at the data in every way they could. She said they studied how one class does from year to year. They didn't focus on just 2nd Grade or just 3rd Grade. They also added criteria to the data, so that they were looking at students who had been in Algonquin Road School since Kindergarten, and that special education students were excluded from the study.

There's still more to this story, and I'm going to continue it on another post......

July 25th Meeting -- Still Need Volunteer Coaches

Dr. Mahaffy reported on the progress of finding volunteer coaches for this year's sports and activities. Last year, the district had enough volunteers for all activities except for Scholastic Bowl. This year, Dr. Mahaffy said that the distict was behind last year's pace for finding coaches. One of the reasons he cited was that a large class from last year has graduated to the high school.

So far, coaches have volunteered for this year's 8th Grade Girls' Basketball, Cheerleading, Cross-Country, 6th/7th Grade Girls' Volleyball, and Girls' Soccer. Asst. coaches have come forward for Boys' Soccer, Track, and Girls' Soccer.

If you can volunteer as a coach or asst. coach, or in some other way for Middle School activities, or would like more information, please contact Dr. Mahaffy at mahaffyt@dist3.org.

July 25 Board Meeting -- Q&A

I’ve spent too much time working on this one, mostly because Patrick Garmoe did such an excellent job of writing about this in the July 27 edition of the Daily Herald.

At the Q&A portion of the July meeting, I used my five minutes to ask once again for the Board to consider making available some means of contact; e-mail addresses, phone numbers, something, that residents can use to contact the members of the Board outside of monthly Board meetings. When I brought this up to the Board at a previous meeting, I was told that the Board members have no individual authority outside of the Board, so it wouldn’t do any good for residents to contact members of the Board individually.

I brought with me printed copies of web pages of various elected officials: Rep. Donald Manzullo, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Barack Obama, State Sen. Pamela Althoff, and State Rep. Mark Beaubien. Each official was elected to a body to represent the people. I made the point that none of these officials have any more individual authority with the entities to which they were elected than do the members of our School Board. Yet, on each website, residents can find full contact information to communicate with them. Addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses; they are all there.

Of course, it is possible that the relationship these elected officials have with the government bodies to which they were elected that school board members don’t have with the body to which they were elected. Sure, they are all elected by the people to serve in a legislative body to represent the people. But maybe there is some reason that was not apparent to me why School Board members should not publish contact information for the benefit of those they represent. So, did some random searches of School Boards, and found several school district websites, from across the country and from right here in the Chicagoland area, that publish not only names of School Board members, but addresses, phone numbers, voice mailbox numbers, and e-mail addresses for each member of the board. Some of the websites had pictures of the Board members, and one even had a short biography of each Board member. I gave printouts of these websites to the District 3 Board as well.

Board President Paula Zasadil started the discussion by saying that the Board may have sounded aloof with its previous answer. She said that Board Members often hear from residents when they shop or do other business around town. She added that all of the Board Members’ phone numbers are listed in the PTO phone books issued each year. She also reiterated that the Board would prefer that parents of students work through issues first with teachers, then the school administrators before coming to the School Board.

I responded that, yes, that was all true, but that residents shouldn’t feel as though they have to dig up the home phone number of a Board Member in order to voice a concern or ask a question. I also noted that residents without children in either school do not receive a PTO phone book. If a resident had a concern about the district, about taxes or spending, for example, and had to work on Monday nights, they would be effectively shut out of the representative process under current conditions.

District 3 Board Member Steve Knar suggested that the District open and publish an e-mail address that would be common to all of the Board Members. E-mail sent to this address would be printed, read, and discussed at Board Meetings.

Board Member Bob Nunamaker said he didn’t feel that the Board should be starting a dialogue. He said that he has sympathy for people unable to make it to Board Meetings, but if the Board got into phone numbers and dialogues, where would the Board be? He did agree with Steve Knar’s idea of having an e-mail address that would be shared by the Board.

Board Member Tom Mollet asked if such an e-mail address might be redundant, since the school administration has e-mail addresses that are published on the District 3 website. But the administration is not the same as the School Board – School Board members are elected by the voters, while school administration is hired by the School Board.

Board President Zasadil suggested that a common e-mail address might be able to be used for all questions for the district, not just for the Board.

Board Member Nunamaker said that he liked the idea of e-mails that would be presented unfiltered at Board Meetings.

The school superintendent, Dr. Jackie Krause, said that the administration has worked hard to get people to see the progression of concerns and come to Board Meetings. Dr. Tim Mahaffy suggested that the website should include text near the common e-mail address stating that parents should first direct questions and comments to teachers or administrators, as would be appropriate by the situation.

Board Member Mollet said he was afraid that Board Members might interpret questions or comments differently when they are presented by e-mail, ,and may incur long discussions without knowing exactly what the e-mailer meant. Board Member Knar didn’t see this as a concern, noting that having this kind of additional communication avenue might involve retirees in the school district.

Board Member Nunamaker said that he didn’t think that the Board will get many e-mails. I think he may well be right, but volume isn’t really the point. The reason the Board should have contact information published is so that residents know that the Board is there to represent them, that they are open to being contacted when residents need to. Board Members shouldn’t have to be worried about confrontations at the grocery store or cleaners, and residents shouldn’t have to feel that this is the only way to be heard.

Dr. Mahaffy said that he will be looking into setting up a common e-mail address for the Board to use and publishing the address on the District 3 website.

ARS Class Lists on Monday, Aug 15th

If you're a parent of a student at Algonquin Road School, be sure to check the school's website on August 15 to see which teacher will be host your child this year.

Website:
http://www.dist3.org/ars/ars.html