Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Board gets Benchmark report; learns scores need improving

Gurdon School District Curriculum Director Bonnie Ross reported on the recent results of the Benchmark Exam during Tuesday night's meeting of the Gurdon School Board.

Ross reported Gurdon's fourth grade having 40 percent scoring in the advanced level in mathematics. In recent years there has been no more than 5-6 percent of the children scoring in the advanced level.

In the proficient category, 67 percent of fourth graders earned this percentage.

In the literacy section of the test, 50 percent of fourth graders were proficient with less than 10 percent in the advanced section.

Less than 8 percent of sixth graders scored in the advanced section of math with 25 percent in the proficient area, with 35 percent in the proficient area of literacy and 55 percent in the basic category.

Eighth graders had 67 percent scoring in the basic category of math and less than 10 percent in proficient and 0 percent in advanced.

"We are working on getting a Saxon Math Program for the eighth graders to try and help these scores. We have also added a math teacher and will be holding two math classes a day for students this year," said Ross.

Eighth grade literacy levels were also not so good. Almost 23 percent scored below average, 53 percent in the proficient area and 0 percent in advanced.

High schools end of course exam for algebra turned out 28 percent in proficient and 17 percent in below average.

Geometry's end of course exam turned out 17 percent in proficient, 2 percent in advanced, 55 percent in basic level and 26 percent in the below average category.

In literacy 40 percent were proficient and 13 percent were below basic.

"We have identified our problems. Now all we can do is work hard on getting our children better prepared and we think we are going to succeed," said Ross.

Superintendent Bobby Smithson reported the damaged middle school gym floor being replaced. The total cost was $11,920 with the school paying the first $1,000 for the deductible and insurance covering the rest.

In recent months, the scoreboard at the football field fell backwards. It has been reset. Additional concrete has been poured around the poles, and the chain link fence behind it has been repaired. Pilgreen's electric has not finished the electrical repairs, as of this date.

The scoreboard itself did sustain some damage during the process of re-erecting it. The owner of TDS, who repaired it, has promised to repair the damage they caused. The estimated cost of repairs is $3,375. Again the school will pay the $1,000 for the deductible.

In May a fund raising policy was passed to try and keep the different schools and organizations from overloading the community with fund-raises and to prevent duplicate fund-raising activities.

After further review it was discovered that most of the organizations and groups would not be covered under the policy and their really wasn't much of a need for one after all. The board tabled the idea to rescind the policy during the June meeting.

Now that the board had more information on the policy, it decided to rescind the it and to work on a calender to be posted so all organizations will know what is going on and when.

The board had to accept a resolution in order to comply with Act 1295 stating that the County Election Commission may allow school elections to be conducted by early voting and absentee voting only and open no polling sites on a school election day, if there are no issues to be submitted to the district electors for consideration, if requested by resolution adopted by the board of directors of any school district.

The board approved.

The board went on to approve the official school budget for 2003-2004. They also approved the athletic budget for the year. The budget was composed by Coach John Pace.

"I feel as if Coach Pace shot his budget a little low. We will probably have to give him some extra funding at some point and I feel we should do it. We don't want our children out participating and looking like a bunch of ragamuffins," said Smithson. The board agreed.

Last year the football district agreed to change the admission prices to $4 across the board for adults and students. The board was asked if it would like to increase them this year.

After some discussion on how it would effect a large family from coming to athletic functions, the board decided to leave the cost admission the same as last year. The admission was changed last year on the adult price and the board didn't want to change two years in a row.

Smithson gave the board a recap of the summer maintenance projects.

Sidewalks were poured at the middle school gym. They go from the dressing rooms. A sidewalk was also poured from the cheerleading building to the parking lot.

At primary school the small frame building behind the primary school has been completely renovated into a self-contained special education classroom. Cover for sidewalk from classroom using the building has been purchased and will be erected as soon as work schedules permit.

Approximately 100 yards of topsoil has been added to the football field in order to fill in low areas.

Approximately 150 yards of topsoil was placed in the washed out areas at the high school and middle school campuses.

Smithson informed the board he has been waiting on the legislature to meet to see what the future of our high school is going to be.

"I have two building projects I want to consider, once we know what to expect for our school," said Smithson.

"We are currently renting a classroom at the old middle school to house the ALE 2 program, at a cost of $300 per month. There are rooms in our Vocational Building, formally used for cheerleaders, that can be renovated to provide adequate space for these two rooms.

"We estimated the cost for renovating the area to be $36,000, two years ago. This figure was based in private contractors doing the bulk of the work. If our maintenance personnel do all the work, except the electrical and heating and air, I think we can reduce that to $20,000 or $25,000," said Smithson.

Smithson also said he would like to see the baseball field complete before he leaves.

"I have talked to Wayne Trull about completing the field. We cannot financially afford to complete this project at one time. I do believe we can complete this project in phases.

"The concrete base phase can be done by our maintenance personnel, as their work schedule permits. I believe this phase can be completed for $10,000-$15,000.

"We can also have a drawing for a small concession stand and restrooms located between the softball field and the baseball fields. This is another project that can be constructed by our school personnel.

"There may be other facility needs that will have a higher priority. Classrooms for early childhood could be required in the near future," said Smithson.

The board had some personnel matters to discuss and discussed them in executive session.

Edna Cooper, a teacher, had requested to be on sick leave. However, she wanted to keep her insurance through the school. In order to do that she would have to take one sick day a month during her leave time.

"I don't see a problem with this and we have contacted the auditors to make sure everything is on the up and up. Mrs. Cooper is taking chemotherapy at this time for breast cancer. She plans to return as soon as she is feeling better and her chemo treatments are over. Therefore I do not see a problem with granting her request," said Smithson.

The board approved.