Saturday School is requirement for failing students
No student attending Marion middle or high school should ever fail a class — unless he or she chooses to do so, according to local school administrators.
To that end, Marion-Florence USD 408 board of education last week approved MMS and MHS handbook policies requiring students who are failing to attend Saturday School until all grades are up to passing.
The proposals passed by a 6-1 vote with member Doug Sharp casting the dissenting vote.
Students who fail to attend assigned after-school tutoring sessions and/or Saturday School sessions will be considered truant and will be reported, the new policies state.
Gerry Henderson, superintendent of schools, explained staff spent a lot of "energy and resources" in 1998 coming up with the district's strategic plan concerning what every child should be able to do.
"The 'agreed-upon what' is very important," Henderson said. "And we've clearly identified the agreed-upon curriculum."
After identifying what students must know, each child must then demonstrate competency. In other words, prove that he or she has learned the concept.
"We're just now starting to wrestle with the third part. Which is what do we do if a child can't demonstrate competency in the agreed-upon what," Henderson told the board.
If middle or high school students cannot demonstrate they have learned the concept, then they are not receiving a passing grade, Henderson related.
"The failure to demonstrate competency is not so much ability, but an effort thing," he continued. "Some aren't completing assignments."
Both MMS Principal Tod Gordon and MHS Principal Ken Arnhold said if students just complete homework assignments they should be able to pass.
"Ken and I are dealing with kids who need a little more time to demonstrate competency," Gordon said, noting this would need to be time outside regular classes.
Both schools currently provide times in the morning and afternoon for extra tutoring. Transportation to Florence following afternoon tutoring sessions is available two days a week.
However, there still are students who do not take these opportunities for extra help. Administrators said requiring Saturday School would be a "wake-up call" for students who were not completing work assignments or soliciting additional help on school days.
"Basically, the goal is not to have anyone there on Saturday," Gordon said. "Hopefully, they'll be spending more time before and after school doing their work and getting help."
Board member Sharp indicated it should be the parents' responsibility to make sure their children finish assignments
MHS counselor Phoebe Janzen replied President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind," policy holds schools accountable if a child fails.
"If the parent won't see to it, the government is holding us — the educational system — responsible," Janzen said. "We have to find a way to be accountable. They will be responsible and we will make them stay after school."
Under the new high school policy, a student who has an F listed on the weekly eligibility report for two consecutive weeks is required to stay for after school tutoring and required to come to Saturday School until all grades are raised to passing. The policy notes also Saturday School assigned for academic improvement may be satisfied by the completion of four hours of tutoring per week outside the regular school day.
At the middle school, a student failing any two courses for two successive weeks will be required to stay for tutoring and required to come to Saturday School until a failing grade is raised to passing. Tutoring is defined as the completion of two hours during the week outside the normal school day.
Third grade assessments
Board members heard from Marion Elementary School teachers Beth Schubert, Sheila Baldwin, and Julie Trapp who explained the process involved in developing third grade outcomes and assessments.
"These teachers have targeted the 'agreed-upon what'," said MES Principal Stan Ploutz. "They've targeted what they want students to learn. Now, there's a way of assessing it. Then we can target a way to teach it."
Ploutz commended the teachers for their work and said he would like to implement benchmarks and assessments at all elementary grade levels.
Beginning in September, instructors determined how standards would be met, then developed an assessment book. As a final step, they need to write protocol.
In math assessments, for instance, the teachers determine benchmarks students should reach at the end of the first, second, third, and fourth nine weeks.
"At this point, they've only been in the third grade for nine weeks," Baldwin said. "So, we felt most of them shouldn't be at mastery at this point. But at the end of the second nine weeks, the numbers reaching mastery should be moving up.
"That will show us which students we need to be targeting," she said.
Board members indicated they would like to be kept informed of the students' progress as they continue throughout the year.
