The Lowell Area Schools Board of Education met Monday for their monthly work session meeting. All members except for Vice President Laurie Kuna were present.
New K-5 Curriculum Decision
Since the start of the school year, 18 district teachers in grades K-5 have been piloting two new possible English Language Arts (ELA) resources to decide which will be the new primary resource for all LAS K-5 classes. This new curriculum would be utilized for the next five years.
The process of choosing a new primary resource began last year when LAS applied for a grant from the State of Michigan that helps districts pay for endeavors to improve literacy instruction. The district received $502,000 from the grant, and that money will cover the majority of the cost of replacing the ELA curriculum for all K-5 classes in the district.
A survey given to all the elementary teachers at that time indicated a desire to change the ELA resource. More than 95% of the teachers surveyed responded that they’d like to give a new primary ELA resource a try. Of the 18 teachers who volunteered to give the two new resources a trial run, nine piloted a curriculum by “CKLA” and nine a curriculum by “Open Court Reading.”
After completing instruction training, the teachers began the pilot of the two programs at the start of this year. After much conversation and collaboration — along with help and coaching from representatives from the two curricula — an extensive survey and scoring rubric was recently administered to all teachers piloting the programs. The final results showed a clear favorite: the Open Court Reading ELA resource, with 14 of the 18 teachers voting for that as their number one choice. The plan is for the matter to be brought before the board at its February meeting for approval to purchase the new curriculum for the district.
Board member Annie McMahon Whitlock was able to observe some of the conversation and collaboration between the piloting teachers and said that, “Clearly, the teachers put in a tremendous amount of work on this pilot, and they came to this meeting fully prepared with pros and cons and detailed evidence…they all really took this seriously…it’s clear that this choice was made with a lot of thought and a lot of thoughtfulness…”.
Gender Equity Comprehensive Audit
As part of the Title IX federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in public schools, a gender equity audit with respect to athletics is required every five years for all districts.
This audit will look at items such as:
- Participation numbers in athletics by male vs. female students
- The amount of sports offerings for male vs. female students
- How many coaches are hired for each program
- How much money is spent on the various sports programs
- Which sporting events feature things like a pep band, a competitive dance or cheer team, an announcer, etc.
Superintendent Nate Fowler said that the audit was a good way to be mindful about some of these offerings and to be able to continue a conversation about what’s equitable for all student athletes at LAS.
Technology
Fowler presented the board with some information regarding recent changes in the technology used by staff and students in the district. He added that Network Administrator Jason Wasciuk has also prepared a PowerPoint presentation that the board will be able to view in the near future.
The district conducted a technology audit in 2022 and another audit in 2023 and has been implementing some of the recommended changes. The changes will increase cyber security and student learning at LAS and bring the district up to current industry standards for technology operations.
While these changes were the recommended course of action, there is also an understanding that many changes in technology over a relatively short period of time can be a source of frustration for staff. In an effort to help with this, the plan is to have a “tech trainer” position in each building to help answer staff questions and also to collaborate more with staff in an effort to get feedback on future technology changes.
Security Camera Bids
The district put out a call for bids for a project to install several new security cameras in the interior and exterior of the high school. The plan is to ask for board approval at the February meeting to award the lowest bidder the project and to begin the installation of the cameras.
The new security cameras will help with better views of the entrances at Alden Nash and Vergennes, as well as additional camera coverage in the hallways where there are currently some blind spots.
Finance
Chief Financial Officer Sonia Hodge said that at a recent revenue estimating conference for the state, the “big takeaway” was that there is estimated to be modest economic growth over the next three years of 2-2.5% annually. The state is also predicting that at the end of this fiscal year, there will be about one billion dollars of revenue left over.
Hodge said that about half of that money would be one-time revenue while the other half will be ongoing. She added that how those dollars will be allocated to Michigan schools remains to be seen, and the governor’s budget is due to be released on February 6, with the State of the State address a few weeks after that.
The LAS finance handbook was recently updated to include bid requirements. If the total cost of district supplies or purchases is over $30,512, the purchase needs to go out for a competitive bid. In addition, all orders or purchases over $10,000 in the district must have three total quotes.
Personnel
Director of Human Resources Dustin Cichocki said that the plan is for the tech trainers Fowler mentioned earlier in the meeting to be in each building by February 2.
Cichocki also said that the district’s incentive for bus drivers has been a great success. If LAS drivers had two or fewer absences from the start of the school year until now, they are eligible for a $500 incentive. Cichocki said that 13 of the district’s drivers qualified for the incentive and only four did not.
The initiative began as a way to encourage driver attendance and in an effort to not have to shut down any bus routes due to driver shortages. The incentive starts over this week, and if drivers have two or fewer absences from now until the end of the school year, they are eligible for an additional $500.
District nurses will come to a future board meeting to present to the board some information about what they do, with a special focus on the district’s MERT (medical emergency response teams).
Superintendent’s Evaluation Process
The board will need to choose an evaluation tool for conducting the superintendent evaluation each year. They can choose to continue with the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) tool they’ve been using or look at other options if they so choose. They also need to decide whether they want to set specific improvement goals for Fowler. These decisions need to be made sometime between now and June 2025, as the decisions will need to be filed with the state at that time.
Board Committee Memberships
Recently retired Board Member Tom Kaywood served on the facilities ad hoc committee, and with his absence, someone else will need to be appointed to take his place. Whitlock volunteered to serve on the committee.
New Meeting Location for Work Session
The board has been invited to the high school library to check out some of the changes in furniture and the structure of the library and to have a work session meeting there. Fowler said that many years ago, the board had discussed the possibility of having board meetings at different locations throughout the district but never did.
The board agreed to hold their February work session at the high school library and then to decide at a later date whether they’d like to continue meetings in the library or remain in the administration building for all meetings.
The board went into closed session for negotiations at 7:30 pm. The next meeting will be held in the administration building on Monday, February 10, at 7 pm.
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