The South Central School Board was told Wednesday night significant reading and math test scores were seen at all three buildings last year.
The school report cards now show South Central High School and Grade School have earned recognition status, while the Middle School is still on the target list due to some subgroups that need improvement.
Superintendent Kerry Herdes is pleased.
“We’re continuing to improve our scores,” Herdes said. “Our staff, our parents and our students are pulling together to do the best that they can. We’re seeing leaps and bounds… We’re proud of that, and we’re proud of our families. We know the kids have it in them, it’s just trying to work together to bring everything they can out and show what they know.”
Kinmundy Grade School Principal Sara Rose explains the process that is being used to drive the scores higher.
“We use Star testing to find out where our students are, and we use that to put interventions in place and to build our instruction around that,” Rose said. “For us it’s a strong indicator of how our students are going to perform. We use that test at the beginning of the year, end of the year, and the end of each quarter to indicate what we need to do for our instruction.”
The grade school finished with an overall score of 76.08 to put them at the top of the grade schools in Marion County. The high school is at 72.34, with only Salem Community High School being ahead of them in Marion County.
The board approved its property tax levy. It seeks a maximum 4.99 percent increase, but Herdes says due to rising values the district’s tax rate is expected to drop from $4.56 to $4.35.
The board approved a new two-million dollar working cash bond. The district will pay the interest on the bonds out of current available funds.
The board approved an e-learning day plan that will allow for five non-attendance days to be utilized as e-learning days.
The board sold the old greenhouse at the high school to Tasha Skibinski for $101.
In personnel news, the board hired Jeremy Chasteen as paid high school softball coach. Brandt Hiestand was approved as an unpaid volunteer high school boys basketball coach and Danielle Chasteen as unpaid volunteer middle school volleyball coach.
