WBCSD votes to hold levy in MArch

PRIEST RIVER — West Bonner County School District voters will be asked to hit the voting booths a few months early for the district’s annual maintenance and operations levy.

The West Bonner County School Board voted last Wednesday to move up the election to March, in part due to fears there could be, “a good deal of tension” if it does not pass.

The district would be able to run the levy again in August should it not pass in May, but changing the initial levy date to March would allow for two more chances to get it passed prior to school starting.

The trustees were in agreement that running the levy in March would be more favorable.

Superintendent Dr. Ellen Perconti presented the audience and board with an in-depth look at the Common Core Standards and had no qualms about expressing her opinion in regards to the new standards.

“Personally I feel this will be better for our students,” she said. “Students who get this level of teaching go to college, the workforce, or military as much more literate students. They will be able to go out and be successful, then come back and be successful.”

Ann Chamberlain was in the audience and expressed that she, “hopes and prays what is being sold is what it turns out to be.”

Perconti reassured those attending the board meeting that while “we were pushed where we are, but so far the Common Core appears to be superior over what Idaho has developed in the last 10 years. Previously there was no interconnectedness between grades, and a lot was redundant, so we’re looking more vertically now and ended up with better standards. So you can fight how we got here, but we’re here and now have better, higher standards we need for kids.”

Each state has the option whether to adopt the Common Core Standards Initiative or not, but federal funding through the “Race to the Top” fund seems to handcuff cash-strapped districts into the implementation.

Dr. Perconti also gave specific examples as to the improved qualities of the Common Core Standards, which are supposed to allow students to better understand how and why they got to an answer rather than just merely providing an answer.

“The difference is it was memory before and now students are being asked to take what they learn and use it for something,” Zone 5 Trustee Phil Hixson added. “Right now a large percentage of those who graduate high school with good grades take remedial courses in college,” he said.

Trustee Hixson likened the old way of test taking to receiving your drivers license. “You have to take a written test to get your driver’s license, but just because you pass with 100 percent doesn’t mean you know how to drive.”

The board also heard from a group of Priest River Elementary teachers who have piloted a new report card to better reflect the common core standards. The new report cards, which follows a four-point rubric, will be piloted in the kindergarten, fifth, and sixth grade classes this school year.

The teachers expressed the new report cards are designed to inform parents about their child’s progress towards achieving specific learning standards.

Members of the board also handled the business of transferring $40,000 from the district’s contingency fund to the general fund account as well as earmarking $3,000 of levy curriculum for the Academic Decathlon team at Priest River Lamanna High School.

The transfer from the contingency fund was said to be able to, “make the budget work” until the district is reimbursed state moneys. The $40,000 will provide for the re-purchase of a lift-capable bus, the addition of a 1/2 time kindergarten position, and additional instructional assistants at the junior high and elementary.

“Money well spent,” said Zone 1 Trustee Tony Lamanna before the board approved the transfer.

During the meeting the Trustees also noted that the Teacher’s Association had not yet ratified the 2013-14 negotiated agreement, the junior high school could become more handicap accessible, and school celebrations and frustrations regarding the new school year were highlighted.

Dr. Perconti expressed that the, “teachers have been fantastic, the new administrators have taken off, and people feel happy to be here.”

The next WBCSD Board of Trustees meeting is set to start at 6 p.m. Oct. 16 at Priest Lake Elementary. Meetings are open to the public.