Kindergarten teachers like 'Leap' program

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

McCook Public Schools' kindergarten teachers told board of education members during a board meeting Monday evening that they are "very supportive" of a new program called "Leap into Kindergarten," used during the first couple days of school this fall.

Teacher Cherie Wallace said that the five kindergarten teachers meeting only 20 t0 25 students each day of the first full week of school gave teachers the opportunity to meet every child and get to know each one by name. "It was an opportunity for every child to get more comfortable with coming to school," Wallace said. It was all much less stressful than first days in the past, she said.

Two changes that teachers will make next year, Wallace said, will be to schedule Dibels testing (to determine at what level young learners are reading) later, and to ensure that students move less among classrooms.


School board members approved the expenditure of $23,000 to match a federal COPS grant valued at $23,000, the total of which, $46,000, will be used to make McCook school buildings more secure.

The grant and local money will pay for new doors, locks and keyless entries and exterior surveillance video cameras on school property. These are expenditures the school district needs to be making whether it receives a grant or not, said Superintendent Dr. Don Marchant.

Dr. Marchant said he wants to limit the access into all school buildings. He said 10 doors were open at the senior high on any given day last week. "It's time to shut these down," he said.

Dr. Marchant also said that front offices may need to be moved closer to front doors, such as at the high school, to create a barrier between the front door and students.

Board member Tom Bredvick said the board will have to create policies to regulate the use, viewing and storage of and access to surveillance tapes.

Dr. Marchant said that at a quarterly meeting of the Greater Nebraska Schools organization, he discovered that McCook is perhaps the most lax in its security procedures. Many schools in the GNS (McCook is the smallest and Lincoln is the largest) require student identification to enter school property and have locked-down closed campuses all day.

Approving the COPS grant, Dr. Marchant said, is one step closer to making students safer. "We need to make more decisions, spend money and/or change procedures to make our students safe," he said.


Programs committee member Diane Lyons recommended to fellow board members that the board take a more active role in programs.

She reported that:

* Half of seventh graders are participating in the new seventh-grade competitive fall sports.

* That there have been a few growing-pain problems with the new student information system, Infinite Classroom. Teachers and staff trained for two days before school started.

* The "Direct Instruction" teaching method is being implemented at Central Elementary and the junior high, and means "lots of preparation" for teachers. Lyons said teachers are asking that substitutes be trained in the same method so that classroom disruptions are minimal when substitutes are called in.

* Choir classes at Central Elementary have been eliminated, although interested singers may still participate in a select choir group after school. Students are still receiving music education and may participate in band.

* Students in seminar classes at the senior high are participating in a contest to see which class can design the most-effective carrying and mailing receptacle for an egg and are spending some of their class time in silent sustained reading. Classes are also developing community service projects.

Lyons reported that she has visited with Dr. Dawn Mollenkopf, who is an associate professor of early childhood education in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, about evaluating the McCook system's Reading First and Reading Mastery programs. She said that Dr. Mollenkopf would watch the program in action, review materials and talk to teachers and focus groups of parents.

Such as evaluation will be on the board's agenda for the November meeting.

McCook Elementary Principal Kathy Latta told board members she would welcome an evaluation of the district's reading program, which has been evaluated by Reading First officials eight times in the last two years.


In other action:

* The board accepted with gratitude a $5,872 donation from the McCook Sertoma Club to purchase special needs playground equipment for McCook Elementary.

* Tristan Darling and Carson Cain reported that the senior high's Student Council has started recycling plastic bottles at football games. They plan "Color Day" on Dec. 2 and continue to plan for the state StuCo meeting Nov. 10 in McCook.

* Following hours-long closed sessions, the board approved administrative contracts and a 2.17 percent increase in salary for principals Dennis Berry, Kathy Latta and Jerry Smith, financial director Rick Haney, activities director Clint Edwards, special education director Bob Saf and school psychologist Lynse Schmidt.

The board also approved contracts for administrative assistants at McCook Elementary, Central Elementary and the junior and senior highs, and created a new administrative assistant position at the LIFT and STEP programs.

* The board took no action after it came out of closed session to discuss evaluation of staff job performance.

The board adjourned its meeting at 2:15 a.m., Tuesday.

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