Hume school district's APR fully accredited

Nevada Daily Mail

Hume R-8 School District Superintendent David Quick told board members at their regular meeting Nov. 11 that Hume's final Annual Performance Report was fully accredited with an 82.3 score out of 100.

Each of the 520 school districts in Missouri must be reviewed and accredited by the Missouri School Improvement Program. The process of accrediting school districts is mandated by state law and by State Board of Education regulation.

According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website, reviews may "focus on checking statutory compliance for districts with full MSIP waivers. Districts that were fully accredited but not fully waived receive reviews that focus on performance areas that did not show adequate improvement.

"Full reviews are reserved for districts with Annual Performance Reports indicating provisional or unaccredited status."

Recommendations regarding accreditation status are presented to the State Board of Education for approval.

Only 11 school systems were rated as provisionally accredited and just two as unaccredited, and none were in this area.

Quick told board members about a new way to evaluate schools that is being developed by the Missouri Association of School Administrators called the Show-Me Task Force: Accountability Discussion.

This effort seeks to list the ingredients that "should be included in an effective statewide assessment system focused on meeting the needs of students" and a series of recommendations that would change the design of assessment/accreditation, according to the MASA website.

Those recommendations included:

* "Build on what we are doing well as a system (collaborative culture).

* "Multiple measures must be used -- what we are measuring is significant but not sufficient in the way of measuring school impact on student success.

* "Assessments must be more flexible and adaptable.

* "Continuous improvement model should be the foundation.

* "(Effective use of) benchmarking: does it conflict with student growth model?

* "Talent development (for students and teachers, principals, etc.)

* "Inspire collaboration across districts -- not just competition.

* "More frequent formative options (pull down anxiety around summative).

* "Must be more student-centered and less about accountability."

Quick reported that all of the board members have completed the required board training. He commented that Missouri Association of Rural Education -- a service organization that seeks to help provide an equal opportunity for "excellent education" for students in rural schools had a "very good" training this year.

In other aspects of the superintendent's report to the board, Quick said the district will be replacing an 80-gallon hot water tank on the high school end of the building and that Ellis Plumbing will replace it over Thanksgiving break.

He commented that the front door has a broken glass again. Quick said it might be better to replace the front doors next summer with a steel door with a top glass.

He reported that Apple Student Transportation Company would meet with him Nov. 17 at 9:30 a.m. to discuss transportation issues. Quick said that AA Student Transport had already been here and that "if we put it out to bid, they will bid on our request." He stated he would have more information at the next meeting.

In other business, the board approved the October 2015 minutes, paid November bills, and approved the District Library Report and the District Assessment Plan Report.

In the new business portion of the meeting, Quick said there would be two 3-year board openings available for the upcoming election. Steve Yarick and Gail Yarick are the two positions up for re-election.

The board voted to set Board Member Election Filing Dates as Dec. 15 through Jan. 19, during normal business hours.

Members voted to approve various board polices.

Quick reminded members that a closed session will be needed next month to discuss personnel.

Some discussion took place regarding four-day weeks and the length of the school year. Also discussed, with no action taken, was the fruit/vegetable bar being unlimited.

Quick stated he had not heard back from any of the companies he had contacted regarding the digital sign and that he would try to get in contact with them again.

Board member Bryice Cannon asked for a drawing of the plans for the back door air lock. Quick said he would get him the information needed.