Hanover-Horton School District
Board of Education Meeting in Review
November 21, 2016
The Board and Superintendent Denney recognized two participants in the Jackson Area Career Center’s Raider State and National Competitions. One student’s team achieved 1st place at States and was a team member for 13th place at Nationals. The other student’s team achieved a tie for 2nd place at State and also was a team member for 13th place at Nationals.
During public comment, Theresa Kuhrt, drama instructor, informed the Board of an upcoming play performance, The Brothers Grimm Specaculathon, on December 1 and 3 at 7 p.m. She guaranteed there would be laughter along with audience participation. She also informed the Board of the various activities that the Drama class is involved in along with the middle school students also now has the opportunity to the exposure of Drama.
Chris Hobson, elementary teacher, explained the many activities of the elementary this past month which caused the delay of the Junior Medal of Honor recognitions. The elementary held an election day, voting for their best movie; Veterans Day Program, honoring many veterans with patriotic songs that were sung by Young 5’s through fifth grades. The Junior Medal of Honor recipients for October and November will be honored at the Board’s December meeting.
Mr. Karl Drake was present to explain the audited 2015-2016 budget and was open to any questions that anyone may have had. His main concern was explaining the error in the previous audit which caused an approximate $135,000 loss going into this year’s budget. The error was due to new rules and regulations with MSPRS that was misinterpreted. Mr. Drake instructed Adrienne, our bookkeeper, as to the accounting practice that needed to be in play to account for MSPRS. Unfortunately after a year of continuously updating himself on the updated laws and regulations, Karl realized he was misinformed as to the correct accounting practices. The error has been corrected and the correct accounting procedures are now in play.
Gary Rouster, Band Director, presented the proposed Jazz Band trip to New York City in April of 2018. If 35 people traveled the cost would be $1250, if they could promote the trip to 46 persons the cost would be $1066. This would include everything except personal spending money. All meals, lodging, transportation and admission to listed attractions would be covered at those costs. The Board approved the planning of this trip and appreciated all Mr. Rouster has done to give our students the opportunities of a lifetime.
Isaac Cottrell, high school principal, was present to explain the outcomes of the MStep and SAT results. MStep tests in the Science and Social Studies areas, and the SAT tests in Math and English. Our students tested the highest of all of Jackson County on the SAT tests and also did very well on the MStep. The data received from the SAT results are more informative to help us find the areas that our students need more work in than the results from MStep were.
The Board approved the first reading of the various changes of our NEOLA policies. These changes represent changes to keep us current and compliant to the ever changing laws and interpretations of them.
Superintendent Denney reviewed the Board Goal Updates for this last quarter. Illuminate is the program that replaced Data Director. The district will continue to train, access and utilize this program. Thanks to our PTA, our high school teachers will be able to use their new document cameras to score their first semester final exams. Each building is reviewing their plan to evaluate effectiveness of improvement plans by reviewing the test results in order to discover focus areas to best impact student learning. Our high school is currently offering two Baker College courses during the regular school day; they are taught by our teachers. The playground build was a great success with close to 200 different people participating. The partnerships made with our community have been beneficial on so many levels. They supported the playground build, Fall Festival, and our booster groups continue to thrive. Through recent reductions, our staffing levels have us at near capacity. We will continue to monitor student enrollment and staffing needs. A balance is needed between class size and efficiency. The next major issue for the district is the need to have our phone system replaced. We are hoping to be able to hold on to the current system until the summer of 2017. Hopefully by then, the sinking fund will be able to cover the costs. If not, the costs would have to come out of our general fund budget.
Superintendent Denney reported to the Board members on the following:
- Thanking the elementary for the Veteran’s Day Celebration
- Play coming up in early December
- Christmas Band and Choir concert will be in December
- Next month’s board meeting, we will be recognizing fall athletes and the Junior Medal of Honor
- Literacy for Life sign up starts on November 22 for anyone that would like to participate
- Our first Blood Drive of the year will be November 30
- First grade is sponsoring Toys for Tots collections
- Young 5’s is having a Pajama Drive. For every pair of new pajamas donated, Scholastic books will donate a book
- Holidays for Heroes program is set up by a theme for various grade levels. Please contact Ashlee Sanford for more information
- Our students are participating in a lot of very good projects for community service.
The Board Members missed the honoring of the Junior Medal of Honor this evening and are looking forward to the next meeting for double recognition. The Board members were very impressed with the elementary students experiencing voting and their participation in honoring the Veterans.
The Board ratified the new Master Agreement with the Hanover Horton Education Association. The new contract will be for one year.
