L-BF students above average

L-BF math and reading MCA-II test results for all required grades were reported to the L-BF School Board Wednesday. The above-target scores are reflected in all measurements, including proficiency, attendance, graduation and the percentage of students participating.

Well above the AYP math proficiency target set at 65.75, L-BF scored an 82.58; and with an AYP reading proficiency target of 72.60, L-BF again scored high at 81.67.

Superintendent Fred Seybert told The Daily Journal that L-BF’s scoring is the result of its dedicated teachers, paraprofessionals, and aides who were willing to invest in all avenues of enhanced instruction, including workshops.

The NCLB law requires that all students be proficient by 2014. The assessments are administered for reading in grades three through eight and 10, and for math in grades three through eight and 11.

As more schools are forced to divert portions of their federal allowances to outside tutoring programs, it should be noted that Minnesota adopted a tougher set of standards than some states. While the federal law demands regular testing, it gives states freedom to write the exams.

With measurements that differ state to state, Minnesota may be doing better than it looks, according to an Aug. 12 Associated Press report published in The Daily Journal. State education officials said they were looking at the standards in other countries because that is where students must compete in the future.

The average number of students in an L-BF class is about 30 per teacher, according to Seybert. Currently, the district can more easily accommodate its open enrollment program in kindergarten through sixth grade. Open enrollment in the high school is tighter, but “as always, it’s first come, first serve,” Seybert said.

In other business, the board discussed the coming N1H1 influenza virus which experts are predicting could spread when school resumes. State health officials have warned that the fall flu outbreak could be worse than usual. Hand washing and coughing into sleeves should be encouraged in children, a report recommends. Seybert reports that health professionals Natalie Stone and Nancy Lee will be conducting an in-service workshop for L-BF staff on the virus, and that school nurse Susan Palm will be asked to visit each classroom.

The board approved the hiring of Tawnya Meyers, business education teacher, as the yearbook advisor.

The board received an update on a long list of completed summer technology projects which includes some of the following: new phone system installed, new paging and bells system installed, an online calendar system for athletic and academic events installed, installment of fiber optic cabling in the bus garage, an upgrade of wireless scoreboards in the gymnasium, and 2009-10 program updates to all computers district wide.

The 12-year old school has had some roof leaks, according to Seybert, and Herzog Roofing has completed an assessment and the repairs of leaks in the commons, hallway and foyer areas. The original 10-year construction warranty for the roof expired in 2007.

Other summer building projects at the school include the completion or installation of the following: a concession stand, new carpeting or tile in the music, art and media rooms, new lights in the old gymnasium, hallway and commons, replacement of ceramic tile in girls bathroom, wireless controllers (remote) on scoreboards in new gymnasium, newly painted bleachers and walls throughout school, air conditioning in the business education room, new stage stairway and new sprinkler heads through the elementary school.

The board agreed to table any action on the Solar For Schools projects after a report from Zenergy which showed significant cost to the district with minimal annual savings. The board will be looking at possible grants for potential utilization of the project in the future.