By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com
The Wynford Board of Education met Wednesday and took a look at the district’s report card which came out Friday.
Superintendent Steve Mohr gave the board his take on the School’s Report Card. This new grading system has been seen as somewhat complicated and was released late, Mohr broke down some of the categories for board members as well as analyzed Wynford’s performance.
“We can do better and I’m going to expect that we do better,” was Mohr’s assessment of the grade Wynford received.
The school passed 17 of the 24 indicators. Some of the categories in which districts are tested now include: gap closing, which indicates how well special education students are improving; progress, which demonstrates the value added portion of teachers; how the overall student body performed; how the gifted students performed; how the bottom 20 percent performed; and graduation rates at four and five years.
Mohr indicated the administration will study other districts in the area to see what portions Wynford could improve. He cited the gap-closure measure specifically as “not acceptable.”
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom; areas where the district did well included the special education value-added portion, the high school hitting all of its indicators, and work with students below the poverty level. Considering that when Mohr took over eight years ago Wynford had a poverty level of 20 precent and now it’s 46precent, this good score looks even better.
The treasurer’s office is gearing up for a busy couple of months. The State Auditor has already begun work on fiscal year 2014 audit. They are being a bit more timely this year as last year’s came a bit late. Treasurer Leesa Smith is appreciative of that as FY 2014 is more familiar this time around. Field work on this should be completed in time for the October board meeting.
Previewing the October meeting became a common theme throughout Smith’s report. October is, of course, five-year forecast time and with it she is planning the biennial requisitions for the forecast. She is also working on a report to the County Auditor with her calendar year estimates for the residential tax rates. This will also be further featured at the October meeting.
Work is being done on renewing the health care plan for next year. This is something that will need to be in place by January, which means it will need to be ratified at the December meeting. Rates have not been determined yet. Claims from August and September are being analyzed first. Something of note, the overall network discount has fallen from 44 percent to 27percent. The reason behind this has not been fully ascertained, but indications are that it may have to do with care that takes place at Bucyrus City Hospital. Research is being as to the exact reason.
The workers’ compensation reimbursement has been figured at 60-percent of the 2012 premiums. This will net the district $14,000 to $15,000. Last year’s reimbursement was $16,000, so this number falls in line with that. The casino money is awarded in January and August, and held steady again this August at $26,000.
High School Principal Jeff Holbrook informed the Board that his office is looking into ways of improving the 88.7-precent graduation rate. They are looking at greater flexibility in credit recovery programs such as offering only nine week or semester portions that students tripped up on, rather than redoing an entire course. Options are being considered in this regard and as a way to keep more students at Wynford as opposed to losing them to community schools.
The school board adjourned into executive session. When the board returned to regular session, board members approved including the position of school district treasurer in the administrative salary schedule for the 2014-15 school year.
Homecoming is quickly approaching taking place the first weekend of October. There will be a bonfire Oct. 2, the game Oct. 3, and dance Oct. 4.