March 27, 2023 at 2:07 p.m.
School board approves new hires in response to literacy testing data
The full board vote to hire one physical education teacher, one music teacher, one art teacher and five reading teachers came last Monday evening, March 20, less than an hour after the district's instruction and accountability committee voted to recommend approval of the hiring request.
The committee met at 5 p.m. and the full board meeting followed at 6 p.m.
During the committee meeting, Rachel Hoffman, the district's director of Teaching, Learning and Technology, presented the Achievement Gap Reduction (AGR) report.
The report showed the district's elementary-age students have made strides in math achievement but there are concerns as to student reading achievement. In particular, recent testing showed a decrease in overall reading growth in kindergarten and first grade.
"Overall reading growth at the K/1 level is an area of need with less than 50 percent of students showing aggressive or typical growth," according to Hoffman's presentation handout.
In a memo to the committee, district superintendent Eric Burke explained that meetings were held at each of the elementary schools to review the data and discuss barriers to student growth and achievement.
The meetings resulted in a recommendation that teacher preparation time for all 4K-5 classrooms be increased from 45 to 60 minutes to allow more time for the teachers to "interact in their professional learning communities."
"This increase provides more time each day for our teachers to collaborate," Burke told committee. "The elementary schedule has not provided sufficient time for our teachers to work together."
To account for the increase in teacher prep time, it was recommended that the district hire additional MAPES (music, art and physical education) instructors. The idea is for students to receive additional MAPES instruction while their classroom teachers are collaborating.
"The increase in MAPES time will provide this time (for teacher collaboration) and we believe will also help with overall student behavior," Burke said.
Committee chair Judy Conlin agreed there would be a "dual benefit" to the additional MAPES time. The teachers will have more time to learn from each other and Rhinelander students will receive a boost in music, art and physical education at a time when many other districts are cutting these classes, she said.
The additional reading teachers - the equivalent of two at Crescent and one each at Pelican, Central and NCES (each school has a slightly different plan as to how the instructors would be used) - would co-teach in classrooms, Burke said.
During the committee meeting, it was noted that elementary teachers were very excited about the possibility of having another expert in the room to assist with reading support and instruction.
During the board discussion, board member Duane Frey said he liked the concept but wanted more information as to the cost.
"I have tremendous faith in our administrative staff and teachers to know what to do, what's good for kids, but I haven't heard what the budget figure is for this," he said.
"It would depend on who we hire," Burke responded, adding that there's no guarantee the district will be able to fill all of the positions. He also noted that the number of rotating teachers is expected to decrease and some existing staff may apply for the new positions.
"We believe the budget provides room to make this happen," he added, noting that the recommendations were made because the testing data clearly shows the district's youngest students need more reading help.
"We can't keep doing the same thing and expecting better results," he said.
In other business, the board also voted to hire a Dean of Students for Crescent Elementary School and add an additional program support teacher in special education. The district's operations and strategic planning committee recommended the hires at the request of the administration.
"District leadership has been reviewing and evaluating the system of behavioral support at Crescent Elementary School," Burke wrote in a memo explaining the request for a Dean of Students at Crescent. "With the resignation of the school psychologist, we decided to use an interim Dean of Students position to fill the need for behavioral support. The position has been working very well at Crescent the past few weeks. We would like to post for this position at Crescent for the 2023-24 school year to continue this position in our overall system at Crescent Elementary School."
Administration also requested an additional support for special education.
"District leadership, along with our administrative team, has been evaluating our current systems and future staffing needs to best support all of our students' and staff learning and growth within the special education realm," Burke wrote. "The need for a 4K-5 program support position has been deemed necessary to proactively ensure compliance on IEP (Individualized education program) timelines, goals, services, and professional development. The current 4K-12 program support teacher would move to a 6-12 program support position and the 4K-5 program support teacher would be added and will work closely with elementary special education staff at each of the building levels."
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