Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
On Monday, Jan. 10, during the Kimball School Board meeting, the board members heard the results of the Progress on School Improvement Goal – which is that 90% of all 3rd to 12th grade students will be proficient (70% or better) in the math skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as demonstrated on Rocket Math Worksheet.
Jr/Sr High School Principal Reader presented the results for 7th-12th grades. Students tested at the beginning of the quarter and tested once again at the end of the quarter on the four basic math operations. The school used Rocket Math worksheets to improve the student skills.
According to the website, "Rocket Math is a supplemental learning program that teaches students addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions. Specifically, the program teaches math facts – the basic building blocks of all math. Students learn using printable worksheets and verbal partner practice or through an Online Game with programmed feedback. Both methods only take a few minutes a day and can greatly increase your child's success with math.”
The percentage of Kimball students who passed (with 70% or better) at the beginning of the quarter in addition for grades 7-12 was 27%, and at the end of the quarter 48% of the students passed (with 70% or better).
In subtraction, 14% of the students passed (with 70% or better) at the beginning of the quarter, while 25% of the students passed (with 70% or better) at the end of the quarter.
Multiplication at the beginning of the quarter proved 21% of the students knew their multiplication tables, but by the end of the quarter, the percentage had risen to 26%.
Division proficiency was 15% at the beginning of the quarter and 25% when they concluded the quarter.
Overall, the total for all four essential math operations by Kimball students was that 7% were proficient at the beginning of the quarter and that the total rose to 15% at the quarter's end.
In their regular business, the board re-organized and elected Travis Cook as president and Matthew Shoup as vice president and Tom O'Brien remained as secretary.
Prior to action items, an agenda item for recognition of public comment is always available to the public. Heather Entingh used her five minutes during the public comment period to again ask for the school district to be accountable. Entingh said she continues to get statements from individuals about the situation of concern. She read a statement that she said she plans to send to to the Nebraska Department of Education; the investigator is Justin Darling, Entingh must send a notarized complaint form.
After all the reorganizational housekeeping action items, two actions items remained. The first was the approval of the declaration of surplus property. The surplus property the board has decided to sell is a lot with an equipment storage building at 604 Nadine. (See public notice on Page B6 for details.)
Finally, the board voted to name the wrestling room "Joe Culek Wrestling Room."
The next board work session is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 22, at 6 p.m. in the Kimball County Transit Service building. The next regular board meeting will be on Feb. 14 at 6:30 in the Transit Building.