SMS deemed a 'school in need of assistance'

"We're in a watch year situation," Superintendent Greg Ebeling informed Spencer school board members. He followed this annual yearly progress (AYP)-related news up with information about what district staff has been doing to help Spencer students improve their academic achievement levels.

The AYP standardized-test determinations serve as an accountability measure under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). According to the federal legislation, all public school students will be required to be proficient on state assessments by the 2013-14 school year. In Iowa, these include the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills for elementary and middle school students, and Iowa Tests of Educational Development for high school students.

"We're constantly trying to reach that 100 percent bar and try to keep improving each and every year. That's, really, is the ultimate goal," Ebeling said. "But every year the trajectory goes up until it hits that 100 percent number. So, the reality is as we get closer to 2014, and as the trajectory continues to go up, it is going to be nearly impossible to meet that standard. As we move toward the last three years, the trajectory will get real steep and you'll see more and more schools -- and not only in the subcategories, but for all students -- that will also not be making AYP."

"The (100 percent student proficiency) goal is admirable," Ebeling continued, "and we need to keep striving toward it, but it is going to get more and more difficult to meet AYP."

After being placed on a "watch list," schools that don't demonstrate AYP for three years in a row are identified as "schools in need of improvement" (SINA) under NCLB. SINA are subject to immediate interventions by state education agencies, including technical assistance and "more serious corrective actions."

While two of Spencer's elementary schools have had subcategories of students not meet their 2008-09 AYP goals, placing those buildings on a "watch list" this year, the district's middle school has been deemed a SINA.

"Each year under No Child Left Behind, we're required to submit our Iowa Test data. According to these Iowa tests, (districts) are held accountable for all students, as well as subcategories of students that have at least 30 people in each subcategory. For Spencer, those subcategories are students in special education with an (individualized education plan) and students that are of low socioeconomic status. ... When you roll in all the data, we fell short under some subcategories," Ebeling explained. "In middle school, our special education population didn't make the progress (required for reading), so they did not meet AYP. At Fairview Elementary, we had a low socioeconomic group that did not make AYP in the area of reading. At Lincoln, we had students that did not make AYP for special education and low socioeconomic in the area of math."

Even though literacy has been a districtwide focus the last two to three years, Ebeling said that focus will take a "heightened level" in the middle school this year.

"We'll keep working on the subcategory (that didn't meet AYP). But, again, we're looking to improve all students, not just focus on a subcategory of students," he said. "By virtue of improving all, we will improve all -- including those special ed students."

Spencer's superintendent also informed board members that state sanctions for SINA are often tied to Title 1 funds received by high-poverty schools. While SHS and SMS have not been deemed Title 1 buildings, Ebeling said if Spencer's elementary level were to not meet AYP goals again this school year, its Title 1 dollars received would be affected.

The approximately $247,000 in Title 1 funds received by the Spencer school district last school year helped to fund a portion of 4.35 teachers' positions located throughout the district's buildings, as well as at Sacred Heart. As Ebeling contemplated Fairview and Lincoln Elementary students not meeting AYP goals again this school year, he warned, "(If that were to occur), then some of our Title 1 funding would have to be (redirected toward) professional development."

In other discussion, board members:

* Heard that an early 2009-10 count of Spencer students shows a decline of approximately 64 students from last year. A preliminary enrollment count the first day of this school year tallied 1,923 students -- or 935 elementary, 322 middle school and 666 high school students. The 2008-09 certified enrollment showed 1,987 K-12 students -- or 925 elementary, 331 middle school and 731 high school students. Certified enrollment counts, which are collected during the first two weeks of October, play a major role in school districts' state funding for the next fiscal year.

* Were informed that the district has applied for an Iowa historical tax credit for work being done on the first floor of the old SMS building. Ebeling said if approved, the amount to be received would total 25 percent of the total project cost submitted, including architect and project manager fees. As he suggested this tax credit could amount to approximately $225,000, Ebeling added the district probably wouldn't receive those dollars for another two years.

* Learned that a Safe Routes to School presentation is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 21 in the council chambers of Spencer City Hall.

* Were told that the Spencer school district, in collaboration with Friends of the Auditorium and Northwest Iowa Planning and Development, submitted a $457,000 grant application to the Iowa Office of Energy Independence. This amount is just under 50 percent of the estimated cost to establish a geothermal system covering the area of the auditorium, gym and auxiliary rooms in the old SMS building. This area of the old SMS would include everything not controlled by Community Housing Initiatives (CHI) or the Spencer Area Activity Center (SAAC), but is equal in cubic feet to the portions of the building, which will house the CHI apartments and the SAAC. Previously, a Community Development Block Grant application submitted to introduce a geothermal system in the building's first floor SAAC area was denied.