OFFICIAL MINUTES FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING OF THE
The Board of Trustees for the Arkansas School for the Blind met for their monthly meeting on November 17, 2009
Present: Beth Gray, Chairperson; Andrew Tolbert, Secretary (via telephone conference); Dr. Doug Watson, Board Member; Henrietta Williams, Board Member; Khayyam Eddings, Board Member; Jim Hill, A.S.B. Superintendent; A.S.D. Mike Phillips, Interim Superintendent; Jeanne Tribett, ASB Parent Representative; Katie Becker, Zania Musteen, Interpreters; Christopher Hart, Office of the Attorney General; Members of the Deaf Community; Members of the Blind Community
Absent: Janice Vaughn
09-B-023 Motion to Approve Consent Items
Mr. Eddings made a motion to approve the Consent Items and Dr. Williams seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Action Items
None
Discussion Items
Report to the Public
Mr. Hill said that the report was given to the public on September 14. Mr. Hill asked Ken Fowler to update the board on the report to the public.
Mr. Fowler said the report was presented to the public as required on September 14. he said enrollment increased 8%, with the present enrollment being 92 students. Summer camp averaged 38 students per week and the Birth to Three program continues to be strong and the school is serving 63 students in that program at the time the report was done. Mr. Fowler said the school is fairly proud on the results of achievement with marked improvement in all academic areas during the past year, but math continues to be a problem area. The end-of-course literacy assessments were in line with previous years and the end-of-course math assessments showed improvement in this assessment. Mr. Fowler said the school is not where they want the students to be, but are meeting the target goals. He said open response questions continue to be a major issue and said this is a major concern statewide. This is recognized at ASB as well and the school is continuing to hit test taking strategies hard for open response questions and continuing target open
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
November 17, 2009
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response questions in the ACTAAP studies skills classes and trying to encourage teachers to have as many open response questions as possible in the regular classroom assessments as well. Raising the open response scores will help the overall scores dramatically.
Benchmark math assessments for the elementary classes last year showed an average scale score increase of 8.79%, with the target being 10%. On the Benchmark literacy assessment, the elementary overall student scale score increased by 13.41%, which is above the 10% average. Literacy continues to be a strong growth area at ASB. The numbers were too small on the secondary students on the Benchmark and there is nothing to report for those. Mr. Fowler said the junior high students who took the end-of-course and the end-of-course math did very well.
The Body Mass Index is an area of concern. This is optional but most of the parents have chosen to let their child participate in this and there was an improvement, with a decrease of 4.4% in males and 4.5% in females. However, 34.5% of the male population and 45.5% of the female population were still considered either overweight, obese, or at risk for being overweight or obese. Mr. Fowler said that the child nutrition department has made changes in meals to help target this concern and also the Health Committee is focusing on nutritional issues for the students.
Mr. Fowler said ASB has representation on test bias committees, science framework committees, and family and consumer science committees. He said a lot of the teachers are becoming involved in their specialty areas which will have long term benefit for the school.
Mr. Fowler explained that Core Curriculum includes reading, writing, math, and social studies; the Expanded Core Curriculum included Braille, mobility, daily living skills, and assistive technology which are areas of special needs for ASB students. Mr. Fowler said the expanded core curriculum is a great benefit to the students because they might not be able to get these courses as in depth as they need if they were attending a public school.
These were just a few of the areas Mr. Fowler covered in his report and each board member had previously received a copy of the report for their review.
Mr. Hill said there will be 11-12 seniors graduating this year and the class is highly academic. Mr. Fowler will send the board the web address for the teacher web site. Mr. Hill explained that parents can access the web site and get information on what the teacher is doing in the classroom. Mr. Hill said the Instructional Resource Center works
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
November 17, 2009
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with the prison in a program where the prisoners learn to Braille textbooks for the school. This is a very cost saving program for the school. At Christmas time, the school treats those in the program at the prison with a lunch at the prison.
Superintendent’s Report
Mr. Hill referred to the Press Sheet Schools which was sent to each board member. He pointed out that the ASB Elementary is listed as achieving and that ASB will receive $1000 for schools of excellence for improvement. He said he is also proud of the High School. He said it is listed as on Alert, but this is primarily because of last year’s low number of graduates.
Mr. Hill congratulated Mr. Tolbert on having attained Master Board Member status, in which he earned up to 50 hours of professional development credit through the Arkansas School Board Association.
Mr. Hill showed the board a map of the state and the districts throughout the state where ASB students reside.
On November 3, the Army Field Soldiers Chorus performed at ASB. The chorus answered questions for the students and personally visited with the students after the performance.
Mr. Hill said the elementary and secondary students at ASB have been involved with the Great Arkansas Penny Hunt. He said that the students collected $375 for the Rice Depot. The students will accompany Mr. Hill to the Centennial Bank, where a representative and the students will get to put all of the coins that were collected into the coin machine. KARK TV will be there to film the children.
Mr. Hill said there will be a reception for Jeanne Tribett on December 15 to welcome her as the new parent representative. He invited the board members to come to the reception which will be in the Conference Room at ASB.
Mr. Hill invited the board members to the school’s Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday and there will be a Turkey Walk for the students and staff on Thursday afternoon.
Mike Phillips also invited the board members to the ASD lunch on Thursday; the school is having their holiday program on December 17 at 1:30. Mr. Hill said ASB will have their concert also on December 17, with the parent appreciation dinner at 5:00 and the concert at 6:30 p.m.
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
November 17, 2009
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Mr. Hill told the board he has really enjoyed working with Mike Phillips and feels they are going to hire good replacements for the employees who have retired.
09-B-024 Motion to Adjourn
Mr. Tolbert made a motion to adjourn and Dr. Watson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously and adjourned at 6:15 p.m.
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Beth Gray, Chairperson
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Andrew Tolbert, Secretary
Board of Trustees Meeting
Arkansas School for the Blind
November 17, 2009
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