Board sees first sketch of restrooms for football field, hears test scores
A pair of greenhouses and outbuildings used by Greene County High School ag students and the local FFA chapter when the school was on Ram Drive, but abandoned when the new high school opened, will be put to good use rather than being demolished.
The Greene County Schools board of education at its June 21 meeting accepted a bid of $700 from the non-profit Iowa Gardening for Good of Madrid for both greenhouses with equipment and contents, an 8 X 12’ shed, and parts from the former aquaculture building.
Tracy Blackmer, Gardening for Good director, explained the volunteer organization raises vegetables on 15 acres of farm ground near Madrid and donates them to Iowa food pantries. Last year Gardening for Good grew and donated 1.2 million pounds of vegetables.
He said he’ll use the greenhouses to grow vegetable plants from seed. He has funding from a church to cover the $700 cost, as well as volunteers to deconstruct the buildings and move them.
The board in May approved a bid of $9,500 from Murphy Construction to demolish the buildings. Superintendent Brett Abbotts said that scope of work will be reduced to taking out the concrete pads under the buildings.
The board reviewed a preliminary sketch by building trades instructor Kirk Davis of a proposed restroom facility to be constructed by students at Linduska Field, with the intention of also serving Allensworth Field. The 32 X 32’ building would include a women’s restroom with six stools, a men’s restroom with three stools and four urinals, two large unisex handicapped accessible restrooms, and a storage area.
Board member Cindy Daubendiek characterized the plan as “a little more than we need.”
The preliminary cost is approximately $150,000.
The sketch was for discussion only. Steve Fisher suggested a committee work with Abbotts and Davis on the plan. Abbotts will also research the restroom facilities other Heart of Iowa Activities Conference schools have at their athletic fields.
The discussion will continue at the July 19 board meeting.
Abbotts gave a brief report on scores from MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing during the 2022-23 school year. It was the first year the MAP was used in the district, with student progress being monitored in the fall, winter and spring. Students also took the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP), which is required by the Iowa Department of Education.
MAP assessments track students’ proficiency in reading and math, whether they have met benchmarks for growth as set based on the previous test, and the percentage of students that have grown academically by grade.
Elementary student MAP scores showed 56 percent of students proficient in math in the fall and 61 percent proficient on spring testing. Reading proficiency improved from 57 percent in the fall to 63 percent in the spring.
Ninety-eight percent of students showed growth in math and 93 percent showed growth in reading during the school year.
Results from the middle school and high school weren’t as encouraging. At the middle school proficiency in math improved from 43 to 49 percent, but proficiency in reading fell from 61 to 54 percent. Sixty-four percent of students met their growth targets in math, but only 34 percent met their growth targets in reading. Eighty-nine percent of students showed growth during the school year in math; 54 percent showed growth in reading.
High school students also performed better in math than in reading. Sixty-four percent of students showed proficiency in math in the spring, compared to 61 percent in the fall. However, the proficiency rate in reading fell from 66 percent in the fall to 62 percent in the spring. Forty-six percent of high school students met math growth targets in the fall; that increased to 59 percent in the spring. In reading, 51 percent met growth targets in the fall, compared to 38 percent in the spring. The percentage of students showing growth in the spring increased to 67 percent, compared to 53 percent in the fall. The percent of those showing growth in reading fell from 53 percent in the fall to 45 percent in the spring.
Abbotts told the board he would discuss the MAP scores with the incoming middle school and high school principals, and said that such a large gap between elementary scores and middle/ high school scores is not typical.
Board member Steve Fisher asked Abbotts his reaction to the MAP scores after his first year in the district. “I’m very optimistic, very positively optimistic. We have a lot of opportunity, a lot of room for growth,” he said.
He explained that teachers are in their second year with a math curriculum and did a lot of work with it, and that it was the first year with a new K-12 literacy curriculum. He looks for scores there to improve.
The board approved changes in the 2023-24 school calendar to assure it has the required minimum hours of instructional time at the high school. The high school daily schedule will no longer include a “seminar” time for intervention/remediation, stretching the six class periods to 67 minutes each. Also, high school students will not be dismissed early for teacher professional development the first two Mondays of the school year. The elementary and middle school calendars are not changed.
The board approved a bid of $47,350 from Environmental Property Solutions for asbestos removal at the W. Madison St location (former administration building/Early Learning Center). Asbestos removal will be done in August, playground equipment on the north side of the building will be moved, and demolition of the building will be done soon after.
The board approved purchasing eight automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) at a total cost of $15,625.34, after trade-in credit. The new AEDs will replace older models. They’ll be in all three school buildings and at athletic facilities.
The board finished the meeting with appointing Laura Marshall as board secretary and administering the oath of office to her. Long-time board secretary Brenda Muir is retiring after 31 works working as school business manager/board secretary in three school districts and with six different school superintendents. A decorated cake marked the occasion.
