| Crocker schools need more work on A+ program |
By: Darrell Todd Maurina
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Posted: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 5:30 am
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CROCKER, Mo. (Nov. 26, 2008) — In an unusually short and quiet meeting, members of the Crocker R-II School Board received a report Tuesday night that they need to do some additional work to qualify for the A-plus program.
The A-plus program provides free tuition to Missouri two-year community colleges for high school graduates who complete a number of requirements, including maintaining required attendance standards and participating in community service programs and tutoring for other students.
Superintendent Jim Bogle and A-plus coordinator Jim Wall told board members that they haven’t yet met the requirements of the A-plus review team but expect they’ll be able to do so soon.
“Were you blindsided by this or did you know it was coming?” asked Board President Charles Worstell.
Bogle said the review results were expected.
“There were no surprises in it; nine out of 11 goals were met and the additional ones will be met in December or January,” Bogle said.
Even so, the review required significant amounts of preparation time.
“This has been a pretty stressful last few weeks,” Wall said.
The two areas that need more work are in curriculum and career development.
School board members also reviewed their policies on fundraisers and said they wanted to make sure existing practices were helping the school, not primarily helping the fundraising company.
“We want to keep an eye out on what’s going on. If we make $500 and they make $2,500, that’s not a good fundraiser,” Worstell said.
That’s not been a problem, according to Crocker Elementary Principal Doug Jacobson. The most recent fundraising proposal was a 50-50 division of profits.
“That’s pretty basic for most of these fundraisers,” Jacobson said.
Crocker has a policy allowing no more than two fundraising activities to happen in a single month.
“We want to eliminate door-to-door stuff as much as possible for our kids because our patrons are pretty generous,” Bogle said.
“It’s better than it was; I’m not getting them every week like I was last year,” said board member Dawn Kubinski.
“It depends on what your kids are in and what your kids’ friends are in,” Bogle said.
Kubinski said there may be better alternatives for raising money.
“I know a few years ago the band did a deer-hunters breakfast and that was a big success,” Kubinski said.
Matt Schroer, who teaches vocational agriculture at Crocker and also serves as a Future Farmers of America instructor, invited board members and others interested in beef cattle to a Dec. 11 presentation by representatives of the Missouri Beef Council in the Crocker High School library. Held at 7 p.m., the program is the second topic meeting of the Crocker FFA’s Winter Adult Education Series.
The program will be conducted by Missouri Beef Council members but time will be provided for audience questions, Schroer said.
“I’ve told them we want some information about Pulaski County in general, and to get updated information on the industry itself and some of the things going on with the industry,” Schroer said. “What happens after that with questions is going to be up to the people who come that night.”
In other business:
• Bogle reported that Crocker met 13 of the 15 standards in its annual progress report. The two areas that were not met were in grades 9 to 11 communication arts and in the districtwide attendance rate. For Crocker, that’s 91.4 percent.
• Board members hired Shari Jackson, a current sixth-grade teacher at Crocker, to serve as a part-time assistant in the Parents as Teachers program.
• Lori Bogle resigned as the boys soccer coach.
• Board members completed mid-year budget amendments that bring the total annual Crocker school budget to $4,369,301.
• Due to the Christmas holiday, board members agreed to move the Dec. 23 school board meeting to Dec. 16.
Local Opinion |
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