Board reviews new NCLB equity measures, gets ELC project update

The Nelson County board of education met Thursday at the district’s Central Office on Wildcat Lane. From left, Superintendent Anthony Orr, Chairman Damon Jackey, and board members Larry Pate, Diane Berry, Diane Breeding and David Norman.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015, 10 p.m. — Ensuring every student in every county school has access to quality teachers is the goal of a new accountability measure the Nelson County Schools will be tracking starting this year.

The new measure is part of the federal No Child Left Behind law, Kim Brown, director of the district’s secondary schools, told the board at its working session Tuesday.

Kim Brown, director of the district’s secondary schools, points to a chart of accountability measures during Tuesday’s board working session.

“We must insure that students who are scoring the lowest on accountability are not taught by the teachers who have the lowest scores on the professional growth and effectiveness,” Brown said.

According to the Kentucky Department of Education, studies have shown that students in lower performing, poorer schools face higher teacher turnover rates and are often taught by teachers with less experience.

The goal is to be certain all students are taught by effective, high-quality teachers, Brown said.

The district must now compile data to show that it is making sure that the weakest students are being taught by quality, high-scoring teachers, she said. Each school must create its own equity plan that will use program growth and effectiveness scores and then evaluate lower-scoring students’ access to those teachers.

“We will have to come up with strategies to address anything we may find that needs to be fixed,” Brown said.

Superintendent Anthony Orr told the board that the new measure is likely going to show that rural districts are going to face challenges to insure that all students and the same access to high-quality teachers.

Orr said the district is at a disadvantage when it comes to hiring top-notch teachers because the education programs aren’t close enough when it comes to hiring teachers. “The top teachers coming out of those programs don’t always want to relocate to rural district,” he said. “High-performing districts also attract high-performing teachers.”

Tim Hockensmith, the district’s chief operating officer, told the board Tuesday that construction documents should be available at its Nov. 17 meeting for their approval.

State law gives site-based councils the say on hiring decisions, which means that the equity measurement means the district will be held accountable to a standard the district cannot directly address, Orr said.

He also said that turnover — the loss of teachers who don’t want to improve their teaching methods — can show up as a negative indicator on equity measures.

“If we have folks who don’t want to improve and they decide to leave, we need to be good with that in my view,” he said.

In other business, the board:

— received an update from Chief Operating Officer Tim Hockensmith on progress of the construction documents for the Early Learning Center expansion project. Hockensmith said the documents should be ready for the board’s approval it the Nov. 17 meeting. If the bidding process goes as planned, construction will begin in the Spring of 2016 with the goal of having the expansion completed by August 2017.

— was told of waiver requests it will be asked to approve to eliminate marker boards from the Early Learning Center expansion classrooms because they aren’t used. The boards will be replaced by bulletin boards.

The second request will be to allow skylights for two classrooms in the ELC project. Hockensmith said skylights are usually not allowed, but the waiver would give the board the option of adding them in order to give the rooms some natural lighting.

NEXT UP. The board will meet next at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015 at the board meeting room at the district’s Central Office on Wildcat Lane.

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