Failing grades improving at BHS/MS thanks in part to new intervention program, COMPASS
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By Renee Bettendorf
BOYCEVILLE- At their regular meeting held on January 10, the Boyceville School Board heard from Middle/High School Principal, Patrick Gretzlock, about the volume of students in the middle and high schools who have or have had failing grades during the second quarter.
“With less than two weeks remaining in the second semester, our grade tracking has been showing some positive results,” said Gretzlock.
In the high school the number of failing grades, failing students and the percentage of failing students was highest on December 8 at 141, 74 and 35 percent respectively. On January 5 there were 121 failing grades in the high school from 52 students dropping the percentage of failing students to 25 percent.
In the middle school at the conclusion of the second quarter, 53 students had 132 failing grades making up 34% of the student body. That was an improvement over the beginning of the quarter when 69 students had 148 failing grades representing 45% of the student body, according to Gretzlock’s report.
Gretzlock said teachers have been taking time with students to do retakes, redos and assessments to help avoid failing grades. He said most Fs are due to students not turning in schoolwork.
Board Vice President, Jeremy Mittlestadt, asked Gretzlock about the new intervention program, COMPASS, that was started at the beginning of the school year and if it was helping students with their academics.
COMPASS, which is short for Creating Opportunities for Meaningful Progress And Student Success, is daily academic intervention time for all middle and high school students. It occurs at the end of each school day for about half an hour.
During COMPASS teachers are able to request students to attend their intervention in an effort to address academic needs and students who are failing receive extra support. Students can also use COMPASS time as a study hall, according to the middle/high school student guidebook.
Gretzlock said COMPASS has taken some getting used to for both students and staff. Although, failing grades do seem to be less common since its implementation.
Also in his report Gretzlock told the board that the second annual Holiday Gift Giveaway was a success with nearly $650 in donations from the BHS and BMS staff that went towards gifts that were raffled off to the students. Staff also participated in a baking championship and a greeting card contest.
In his report to the board, District Administrator Nick Kaiser, reminded the board that January 22-26 is Adult School Crossing Guard Week. He said there are four sights in the village that require crossing guards and that the district’s team of guards should be acknowledged.
“They do a good job keeping our kids safe,” said Kaiser.
In his report to the board, TCE Principal, Jerim DesJarlais told the board that 85% of TCE students have no Office Discipline Referrals (ODR) and 94% have zero or one ODR. If a student receives an ODR that means they were sent to the principal’s office and their parents were informed about it.
“We’ve got some well-behaved kids,” said DesJarlais.
There are seven TCE students who have received 40% of all ODRs this school year and the staff have worked collaboratively to plan for and support these individual students, according to DesJarlais’s report.
DesJarlais also reported on TCE Christmas events that took place. He thanked the music teachers and the ELC through second grade staff for their help in preparing students for the annual Christmas concert which was well attended. Some local reindeer visited TCE before winter break which was a fun and intriguing experience for the students.
In other business the Boyceville School Board:
• Approved Jenna Behrends as prom advisor.
• Learned from Gretzlock that the high school students of the month for December were Hannah Dunn and Ryker Bentiz.
• Heard from Kaiser that the girls and boys basketball teams played Webster at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
• Went into closed session to discuss 2023/2024 staffing but took no action.
