Craig Randall receives a plaque for his years of service on the School Board, from Broadus Schools Superintendent Jim Hansen. Randall and Hansen both began their tenures in 1994.
The School Board met Monday evening, initially meeting with School Counselor Dori Phillips to discuss the school's ESSA Report Card. ESSA, or the Every Student Succeeds Act, is a Federal law passed in 2015 which governs K-12 education policy, replacing the No Child Left Behind Act. The ESSA uses several factors to determine how a school ranks in relation to others – some of the factors used to rate the schools include standardized testing, graduation rates, and attendance.
Broadus performed in the "Univeral Support" category in Elementary, Junior High, and High School, which is the highest classification available.
The report card provides a treasure trove of data as to how the school is performing in math, reading, and science, how students are advancing year to year in these areas, as well as attendance.
Broadus performed well in most categories, though the rate at which students met 95% or better attendance in Junior High 37% of students) was well below the state average, whereas in the Elementary and High School attendance was above the state average. Dori thought this low rate in JH stemmed from the school's semester test policy, which doesn't apply to JH students. In grades 9-12, if a student misses three or fewer days a semester, that student does not have to take semester tests. This policy does not apply to JH students, so they seem to be missing more days or school. Dori thought the Board could potentially look at expanding this policy to the JH in the future.
The school's report card is available on the Montana Office of Public Instruction website – click on "ESSA Report Cards are now available" and follow the link, where data for all schools in the state is available.
Dori also went over some changes in the categorization of high school classes. Pending Board approval, classes such as Business Math would be a Career and Technical Education Class, instead of counting as a math class, and no longer qualifying towards a student's required three math classes to graduate. Other classes in the CTE field would include all the shop classes, accounting, computer science, and a variety of others.
Phillips also covered some potential changes to the work study program. A major change was that pending Board approval, Juniors would be able to take part in the work study program.
The Board then canvassed the School Board election results. The election was held for two positions, conducted by mail in ballot, and counted on May 7th.
Election results are as follows:
Dawn Aye
79J Powder River County 134
79J Carter County 0
Waylon Billing
79J Powder River County 377
79J Carter County 7
Amanda Zimmer
79J Powder River County 314
79J Carter County 8
Clerk Dixie Mitchell said that counting went really well, and voter turn out was quite good.
Superintendent Hansen then presented "retiring" Board Chairman Craig Randall with a plaque for his years of dedication and service. Craig was first elected in 1994, and served until 2019 – the longest serving Board member in recent history. Craig saw the school system through many changes over the years, and worked hard to ensure the school and the board were the best representation of the Powder River County Taxpayer. His presence at the meetings will be missed.
The newly elected School Board members were then given their oaths of office, and the Board was on to reorganization of positions and committees. Amanda Zimmer was nominated and voted in as the new Board Chaiman; Patrick Emmons as the Vice-Chairman.
District Clerk Dixie Mitchell was rehired to her position.
A transportation and attendance contract for three Elementary students was then approved.
Moving on to hirings and resignations, the Board approved the resignation of Libby Nisley from the Activities Director position, while hiring Dustin Lanke as a summer custodian and Deb Blankenship as a substitute teacher, pending physicals and other pre-hiring requirements.
The Board then discussed changes to the Student Handboook. A variety of changes were discussed, including including a change to the required class nomenclature, with the CTE classes mentioned earlier in this article now part of the required classes. These were voted on and passed. A potential change to the Valedicatorian/Salutatorian requirements was discussed, but tabled until next month when more data from other schools is available.
The next meeting will June 10th 2019 at 7 PM.
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