MONDAY, JAN. 14 2013
BY ELLIE STRANG, Editor
The new year of 2013 has just started, and the school board has been presented with a 2014 strategic plan. This plan was presented on Monday, Jan. 14 and will hopefully strengthen kids on their core curriculum and help develop student’s learning in the classroom both academically and emotionally.
There are many points to this plan that require improvement and change in multiple areas. The first of an array is implementing a positive behavior support system for students, and celebrating the successes of the school district. This part of the plan was already seen put in place Monday night when three teams from the Kaneland School District were presented with merit awards for their powerpoint’s and posters that they presented at a convention. These teams were recognized at a National Level and the school board congratulated them while they handed their trophies.
The next subject to arise was that needed to be updated and possibly looked at was math and reading RTI, while expanding flexible grouping. RTI stands for response to intervention. This will be accomplished through the following of these three tiers. Tier one will provide screen tests for students and will focus on core curriculum. Tier two involves targeted interventions where each student will be able to get the help and support that they need to be successful. Lastly, tier three will provide intensive intervention, which will benefit both the student that needs to take a little more time and the more quickly paced. It’s designed to help those more advanced move ahead, while also giving a little push in the right direction for those that need it. The goal of these tiers is to eliminate unnecessary testing.
Another proposal that was presented that will help back up this plan, was the check-in-check-out system. This is where a student will be assigned to a teacher and they will check in and check out everyday with their teacher. The goal is to try and have the student build up a relationship with a teacher to where they feel comfortable, and it can be a place where students can talk about how their day went and what they did during the day. This will be provided for all students K-12.
MON FEB. 11, 2013
BY SAMANTHA PAYTON, Editor
The assistant superintendent for business, Dr. Julie-Ann Fuchs discussed the fees for the upcoming school year at the school board meeting on Feb. 11.
According to Fuchs, the FAC reviewed the financial data from the district. They found this year’s fees to be an appropriate amount for families to pay.
“Given the current economic conditions [the FAC] continue to be sensitive to the community’s needs,” Fuchs said.
This year the board was concerned about students who are paying for parking or a fall sport, but then not paying their registration fees. Fuchs explained that students are required to pay fees for sports before they can participate, sometimes requiring them to pay before their registration. She said she wouldn’t want kids to be limited with extracurricular activities.
According to Fuchs, some families are doing a payment plan, along with paying for extracurricular activities in the fall. She feels it would be wrong to punish families who are attempting to pay.
Another topic brought up during the school fee discussion was the cost of hot lunch. The goal is to charge $2.46 for hot lunch, Fuchs said.
However, hot lunch can only be raised $0.10 a year, Fuchs explained. Therefore, hot lunch will cost $2.15 for students next year, compared to the $2.05 the currently pay.
