DMPS School Board Meeting 11/06/2007

With Veterans Day approaching, School Board President Dick Murphy spoke about students who go on to serve in the U.S. armed forces. Murphy invited the families of five such students from North High School who will be deployed to Iraq together to attend and be honored at the board meeting . He also announced that plaques with the names of students who have served in Iraq and in Afghanistan will be placed in the schools they attended, similar to plaques listing the names of students who served in World War II.

Speaking in the public comment period, culinary arts teacher Elaine Wolfe told the board that the classroom’s kitchen was built in 1957. She noted that it is impossible to teach restaurant skills needed in 2007 in a kitchen built 50 years ago. Alan Young, president of the employee and teacher union (DMEA), also spoke. He asked the board to help tell the state legislature and governor that the Model Core Curriculum is based in the 20th Century and, thus, not appropriate to 21st Century goals.

Board member Jon Narcisse again asked for the list of bills to be removed from the consent agenda. At this board meeting there was no explanation given and no board discussion. Narcisse simply expressed his opinion by abstaining when the vote on the item was taken. Other consent agenda items included awarding contracts for new buses, adding Bank of the West as an authorized depository for certificates of deposit, and accepting grants for early reading and smaller learning communities.

Superintendent Dr. Nancy Sebring reported on meetings and events with NASA, about ACT tests, and on an International Baccalaureate program. She noted that Harding Middle School is one of 25 schools in the country receiving a three-year grant to work with NASA. Sebring spent about an hour reviewing three formulas that can be used in calculating dropout rates and how various factors can skew the numbers. For example, a sophomore in high school can be defined either by the number of course credits a student has or by the number of years of schooling. Data for the class of 2008 will be the first to come from a program started in 2004 in which each student is followed through a unique identification number. Board members discussed the need to improve dropout numbers regardless of which calculation is used. They also differentiated between an immediate need for intervention such as may be necessary for students already in the 10th grade and reducing dropout rates in the future by promoting early childhood education now.

Dr. Sebring provided a short update on Schools First, the project to renovate and to build schools. She reported that site committees are looking at options but they do not yet have a recommendation to put before the public. Residents near Jackson Elementary School asked the board not to delay renovations at that school. Such a delay was presented in some scenarios presented as examples by Sebring at the October 16th board meeting. The residents gave the board a petition with 110 signatures in support of Jackson’s timely renovation. The school oversight committee was also discussed as some terms are ending. Jeff Link, husband of school board member Patty Link, resigned from the committee as a result of Patty’s election victory this past September. Narcisse asked how committee members were selected and appointed. In the past, before Sebring was hired, the superintendent has brought members to the board and the board has approved the appointment.

Policy Governance as a model for school board operations was discussed. Improving public participation was mentioned as part of the model. As a first step advertisements were bought in the neighborhood sections of the Des Moines Register to publicize upcoming public meetings. The first ad ran on Tuesday for a meeting to be held on Monday, November 12th. The purpose of the meetings is to gather feedback on a 32-page document which was available at the board meeting. More will be written about this issue in a separate post.

The board meeting ended in a closed session. The purchase of property and a matter of litigation were listed as agenda items.

M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa and covers school board meetings for AroundDesMoines.com.