By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Grade cards were one of the main topics of discussion at the Buckeye Central School District Board of Education meeting Thursday night. While the grade cards didn’t pertain to the students’ quarterly grade cards it did deal with the students’ and district’s performance over the past year.
Instruction and Assessment Department head Diane Ervin went over the grade card with the board, and while Buckeye Central did pass most of the categories that were graded, the district did receive an F grade in the Overall Value-Added section. The school received an A in Indicators met, a B in K-3 Literacy, C’s in Performance Added, 4-Year Graduation Rate, and Students with Disabilities Value-Added, and a D in the school district’s Gifted Value-Added.
Superintendent Mark Robinson noted that while he felt that the school performed well overall, it is a learning process.
“I felt we did good overall. We had a couple of grades on there we didn’t like to see. We had an F on Value-Added as far as the district goes,” Robinson said. “This is something we talked about in the meeting tonight that this is a learning process for us. These were all new tests, it was a new way of doing the tests, and what we have to do is look at why we got that F on the report card for Value-Added and we need to fix it as we go into future years.”
Ervin explained that the process can’t wait to be plugged in and that the school has to move and adapt along the way. Ervin also noted that the process usually takes three years for the school districts to adapt to the changes.
Refinancing the district’s bonds that were in place for the construction of the current Buckeye Central building were discussed during the meeting. Buckeye Central School District Treasurer Nancy Ackerman explained that the school stands to have a projected potential $650,000 from the bond.
With those monies saved the school hopes to build an auxiliary gymnasium for practices so that students can be home from practice at an earlier hour. The board noted that if financing the auxiliary gymnasium comes down to a levy then the auxiliary gym will no longer be considered.
Discussion on the gymnasium is in its early stages with no current timetable on the project.
The board approved all items on the agenda including adding Modern Novel, Nonfiction and Its Place in History, Creative Writing, British Literature, and Advanced Physical Education to the 2016-2017 course selection.