BV School hears good news about enrollment and tests

BOYCEVILLE — The school board heard good news about higher enrollment figures, good ACT tests scores and Tiffany Creek Elementary School receiving recognition.

During his report to the board, Superintendent Kevin Sipple discussed the enrollment at Boyceville. He noted that over the past years small schools throughout the state have seen enrollment decline. He reported that, “preliminary numbers show the school district’s enrollment has increased by 14-in-house students this year.” But he noted that the actual Third Friday count will be taken this Friday. “We are pleased with this increase as several years ago this could not have been predicted.” He continued by concluding, “it is good to have more students in our buildings.”

Sipple also congratulated the students and staff at Tiffany Creek Elementary School for being named a 2013-14 Title I Wisconsin School of Recognition. “This is the fourth year in a row and the fifth out of the last six years the school has earned this recognition. “Principal Nick Kaiser will have members of his staff in Madison on October 6th to receive this award,” he told the board.

Sipple informed the board that the Common Vision for Student Learning is moving forward. Based on over 400 responses the school received from school district members, the board has chosen five areas of need to concentrate on over the next two years. He said that by the end of the week the planning should be done. He noted that many of the responses the school received were on line.

Sipple and High/Middle School Principal Steve Glocke reported on the ACT tests with Glocke saying that as a class, the 2013 group did extremely well. His report showed that the class was above the state in Mathematics and Reading, but slightly below in English and Science. The Composite scores put Boyceville ahead of the state average.

Glocke’s report also gave the board the number of students in each grade from seventh through seniors. Grade seven has 46; eighth grade, 71; freshmen, 66; juniors, 52 and 48 are seniors and seven of them are GED students.

Glocke also recognized Peter Duerst as being named a National Merit Semi-Finalist for his effort on the PSAT taken last year. “To achieve this status Peter needed to score in the top 16,000 of 1.5 million, which is the top one percent of all juniors who took the PACT. Peter will now be eligible to become a National Merit Finalist,” Glocke informed the board.

Glocke also talked about the upcoming parent-teacher conference, which is set for October 14. He noted the change that the High School will be from 11 to 7 and elementary from 12 to 8.

The board watched a slide show presented by Julie Manor. It was an update of the PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Strategy) that the school undertook. She explained how students could get dog paws that gave them special privileges for good behavior, like a pass to a ball game. But she said that if a student got 120 of these dog paws, they get to duct tape Principal Kaiser to the wall.

The board also received a report from Bonnie Barker, the school’s Director of Special Education. She noted that the school currently has a total of 121 students with IEPs. Her report said that, “this year we had eight students move from the district (4 high school and 4 elementary) and gained eight (2 high school; five elementary and one early childhood).

Baker spoke of the new reading curriculum that will be used this year. “The new system is a one-to-one tutoring system that is research-based and has been proven to improve spelling, reading and writing skills of children and teenagers who struggle due to learning disability or dyslexia.” She also presented the board with a handout about preventing youth suicides, stating that suicide is the third leading cause of death among youths between 10 and 19.

In other board action they approved increases in support staff wages. All represented and non-represented employees will get 26 cents more per hour and the district office staff will receive a two and a half percent increase.

They also approved the resignation of Candace Phillips as dance team advisor and hired Erin Hahn as fall dance team advisor. They also hired Tim Engel as GED instructor.

The Board also accepted donations for the Science Olympiad program run by Mr. Hamm. There was $1,000 anonymous donation with a $1,000 matching contribution from Northwestern Mutual Foundation, and $1,000 from Don and Mona Klassen.