The INDEPENDENT, October 7, 2004
Page 15
School Board considers superintendent hiring, meets staff liaison
Banks School Board wel-
comed the beginning of the
new school year with attention
to hiring a new superintendent.
Doug Nordholm asked for
clarification of the superintend-
ent search calendar. Superin-
tendent Marilyn McGlasson ex-
plained that Jon Young, of the
Oregon School Boards Associ-
ation (OSBA) superintendent
search division, would attend
the board’s October meeting. At
that time he will provide back-
ground information and explain
the process used by OSBA.
Superintendent
Evaluation
Nordholm
proposed
a
change in the superintendent
evaluation procedure because,
though current policy requires
superintendent
evaluations
conducted by the board to be
completed in July and Febru-
ary, none had been received.
He suggested that the evalu-
ation forms be handed out at
the February meeting, followed
by a workshop later in February
to complete and discuss the
evaluations for finalization at
the March meeting. This format
would require participation of
board members, provide for in-
formal discussion between the
superintendent and the board,
and allow the board to reach a
consensus regarding the su-
perintendent’s evaluation.
Nordholm also had ques-
tions about the amount of detail
of superintendent evaluations
that can presented in a public
meeting.
According to McGlasson
evaluation of the superintend-
ent “is, arguably, the single
most important task of the
board.” She said that many
boards had become involved in
litigation by not following a
clear, open process or estab-
lished timelines. Both the time-
line and the instrument for eval-
uation must be approved in a
public meeting.
OSBA conducts superin-
tendent evaluation workshops,
and McGlasson advised the
board to work with their super-
intendent search facilitator to
develop a process and adopt a
new timeline. Accepting Mc-
Glasson’s advice, the board
tabled superintendent evalua-
tions until new policies can be
developed.
Plans for Improvement
In one of many twists in
comparing state report cards
and national ratings under the
No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB), high school principal
Jim Foster reported that, even
though fewer students passed
the writing assessment, 79 per-
cent of them will have achieved
the CIM in writing by meeting
standards on work samples.
These students are not count-
ed as having met the standard
under NCLB, so the state re-
port card will show an improve-
ment in writing and the federal
Annual Yearly Progress (AYP)
report will show a decline.
Banks High School contin-
ues to make significant pro-
gress on meeting the state
standards in mathematics. Fos-
ter told the board that the sci-
ence curriculum has been ad-
justed and will be a required
subject for all freshman and
sophomores. The English de-
partment will attend training on
the state standards.
Junior high principal Mark
Everett told the board that he is
working with the state to
change the initial AYP rating of
“Not Met”. After analyzing the
results, Everett found that two
students were included who
were not enrolled at the time of
testing. Reducing the number
of students used to calculate
the percentage of students who
met the state standard moved
BJHS to a rating of “Met”.
An after school Homework
Club will continue to be offered
to allow additional time in a
structured learning environ-
ment with access to library
books, computers and adult as-
sistance.
Marty Voge, Banks elemen-
tary principal, reported that in-
dividual and grade level goals
for improvement in reading and
math will be identified, a school
wide math incentive program
will be developed, along with
expansion of the reading incen-
tive program. Students not
meeting standards will be iden-
tified and offered a learning lab.
Voge told the board that in
order to accommodate a large
fifth grade enrollment he had
contacted Pacific University
and the parent group. Pacific
will provide two student teach-
ers to work with students. Voge
told the board that members of
the parent group “came from
Heaven” to supply volunteers
who are willing and able to
work with students.
Following the administrators’
reports, board chair Willis
Meeuwsen said that he hoped
that schools did not fall into the
trap of “teaching to the test,”
but concentrated on educating
kids. McGlasson said that all of
the administrators are aware
and would continue to educate
as broadly as possible. Howev-
er, she warned, because of the
NCLB “there are serious sanc-
tions” that can be imposed now
that have not been present in
the past.
ESD liaison
Meeuwsen introduced Joan
Steiner, of Northwest Regional
Educational Service District
(NWRESD), who has been as-
signed as staff liaison to the
Banks School District. Steiner
told the board that each of the
twenty districts in the four-
county NWRESD has been as-
signed a liaison who will be at-
tending board meeting in an ef-
fort to improve communications
and increase involvement at
the local level. Questions and
concerns of the board will be
conveyed directly to the appro-
priate party at NWRESD, ac-
cording to Steiner, who will also
be responsible to ensuring that
concerns are appropriately ad-
dressed.
Fire Science
Following up on a request
made by Joe Evers at the last
meeting, McGlasson reported
that the fire science curriculum
will be updated and the admin-
istration will meet regularly with
instructors. The $50 fee goes
directly to the fire department to
partially offset the cost of the
program, she said, but no stu-
dent would be denied access to
Banks Crab Feed
October 9
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the program due to inability to
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New staff tour
Finally, McGlasson told the
board about taking new staff
members on a bus tour of the
entire district. According to Mc-
Glasson, it was important to
give new teachers a feel for the
actual range of household in-
come and the distance that stu-
dents must travel to get to
school. The tour took about an
hour and a half.
Miscellaneous
In other business the board:
• Approved FFA overnight
field trip.
• Accepted resignations of
playground supervisor Christi-
na Burgess, elementary secre-
tary Lori Campbell, and re-
source teacher Linda Kiehl.
• Hired instructional asst.
Dorothy Castor, resource tea-
cher Lori Marston, teacher men-
tor Kristy McGinnis, and volley-
ball coaches Terri Maller, Melis-
sa Olson and Kyle Dobashi.
• McGlasson reported a net
gain of 24 students from inter-
district transfers.
• Learned that the district re-
ceived the balance due from
the Buxton School property.
The money cannot be used this
school year without action from
the board.
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