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School guidance counselor reports on student testing

OSMOND — The District 42R Board of Education met Monday, Oct. 11, and began with a report from guidance counselor Lacy Stelling. Mrs. Stelling advised that the grades 7-11 students began MAPS (Measures of Academic Progress) testing Aug. 30, and grades K-6 started Sept. 7, with all testing completed Oct. 1.

Stelling shared a graphic of scores for students in math, reading and science which showed that all are well above the average national percentile. The breakdown is as follows:

Class Math Reading Science

7th 65.3 56.3 70.8

8th 72.5 70.1 69.7

9th 76.3 71.4 70.0

10th 82.6 63.2 73.8

11th 74.0 53.1 --

Mrs. Stelling advised that the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) testing will take place Dec. 1 through Jan. 28, 2022, with the cumulative window between March 21 and April 29, 2022. These are state assessments for grades 3-8 in math and English Language Arts. She explained that the questions are computer-generated. Depending on how the student answers, it will give harder questions if the answers are correct.

Board Member LaDonna Stanosheck asked if Stelling is seeing improvement in scores. Superintendent Dave Hamm answered that they look more at individual scores than class scores, because there could be one or two students who aren’t putting much effort into the testing, so the class score is not indicative of individual scores. He added that the school’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) team looks at how a student is doing sometimes weekly, bi-weekly or monthly to see if they need help.

Principal’s Report

Principal Kurt Polt reported that the end of the first quarter is Oct. 15 and report cards will be handed out at parent-teacher conferences on Monday, Oct. 18, with the remaining ones mailed out the next day. Conferences for elementary students will be scheduled with parents, while those for high school students will be first-come, first-served and will be in the gym.

The honors breakfast will be held at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 28, in the cafeteria. Academic letters will also be handed out that day, Polt said.

Cross country district meet will be at the golf course in Ainsworth on Thursday, Oct. 14, and the state meet will be in Kearney on Friday, Oct. 22. The first round of football playoffs in Class D2 will be on Thursday, Oct. 21, and volleyball subdistricts will begin on Monday, Oct. 25.

Polt advised that the first one-act performance is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 13, with Pop, Popcorn and a Play in Wausa. The conference one-act contest is set for Tuesday, Nov. 16, in Wynot. Wausmond will perform a dark comedy titled “And to Death We Shall Return, Sooner or Later,” written by Sheila Hoesing.

The conference vocal clinic and concert is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 1, in Wynot, and the academic contest (quiz bowl) will be held Tuesday, Nov. 2, at Wayne State College.

Polt reported that the Osmond Marching Tigers placed second in Class D at the Harvest of Harmony parade in Grand Island, with Riley Wagner crowned Miss Harvest of Harmony Queen. The Marching Tigers also placed second at the March to the Meridian in Yankton.

Fall break is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 29, Polt said.

Mr. Polt reported that the projector cage has been delivered and Dave Noecker will be here to install it, hopefully by Wednesday.

Superintendent’s Report

Superintendent Hamm reported that all board members except for Aaron von Rentzell are registered for the Nebraska Association of School Boards conference in November, and the hotel rooms have been booked.

He also reported that the district’s audit has been completed; however, he does not yet have the results. This will be covered during the November meeting, with a representative from AMGL available for phone conferencing.

Hamm advised that he placed copies of the superintendent evaluation instrument in board members’ packets. They are to be completed and brought to the November meeting.

Superintendent Hamm said he also placed a copy of the adjusted valuations for the district in members’ packets. He explained the numbers on the form, which showed that agriculture is responsible for 64.2% of the district’s tax income, while residential property makes up 21.0%.

Hamm reported that on Monday, Nov. 1, he will be taking seventh and eighth grade students to Lincoln for a sportsmanship pep rally. Students will listen to several UNL coaches and athletes speak, and the group will stay for a women’s basketball game beginning at 12 noon.

The superintendent advised that the district will once again have Unified Bowling this year. There will be two teams, with nine students participating. There are five contests scheduled, including four meets and one duel which will be held here. The first practice will be on Tuesday, Oct. 19.

Before the meeting, board members had taken a tour through the almost-completed “yellow building.” Hamm reported that he had asked school secretary Margaret Ryan to transfer $20,000 from the Fitness Center account to the Special Building Fund to cover costs of additional items for the building that were not part of the original bid. He added that members of the fitness center would start putting equipment back into that room the following day (Tuesday).

Hamm reported that $57,000 from the recent bus rebate will go into the depreciation fund. He told board members he is thinking about applying for another rebate, which can be for either diesel or propane. Board members asked if there are any benefits or differences between diesel and propane. Mr. Polt said he has only driven the propane-fueled bus once, but said it was fine.

Hamm also reported that in the 2022 school rankings reported on Niche.com, the district moved up from 30th in 2021 to 20th in the 2022 rankings. Asked by board members what the rankings are for, he said they are based on teachers, clubs and activities, diversity, college prep, health and safety, etc., and the site gets its data from the Nebraska Department of Education.

The board briefly discussed whether to have the “yellow building” open during the football game Friday. After hearing there might be a chance of rain, and other questions, it was decided to play it by ear.

President’s Report

Board President Mark Moes asked members’ thoughts on whether to have an earlier meeting in November because of the superintendent’s evaluation. It was decided to have the evaluation at 7 p.m. with the regular meeting to start at 8 p.m.

(Continued on Page 4, No. 1)

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