Acting Superintendent Sean Gallagher and Testing Coordinator Anna Dubord gave reports to the board on standardized testing procedures at Alsea School. Mr. Gallagher emphasized that the community needs to work together to increase participation in the annual State Assessments. Historically, many families have chosen to “opt out” of these assessments, which can have negative effects on programs, funding, and district planning. For a PowerPoint on last year’s assessment scores for Alsea School District, please visit https://meetings.boardbook.org/Documents/FileViewerOrPublic/2548?file=221902c8-2ab8-41bc-b2df-3268805e8a9c&isFromMeeting=True.
Acting Supt. Gallagher presented information about the potential positives of bringing on a Project Manager to represent Alsea School District (ASD) in the Alsea Bond Project (ABP). The board approved that the district will begin steps to develop and a advertise a Request For Proposal (RFP) process to find a project manager for the bond project. Mr. Gallagher also brought several policies to the ASB to be updated to align with state and federal requirements. For details on these, please visit https://meetings.boardbook.org/Documents/FileViewerOrPublic/2548?file=e1388ea7-61ea-4a5d-902b-1c2abcd1fda0&isFromMeeting=True.
LaRae Sullivan, Business Manager, has worked hard the past few weeks to create a budget that reflects current enrollment numbers and the financial relationship between Alsea School and Learn At Home Oregon (LAHO). Enrollment number for LAHO are lower than what was expected, so administration will be aggressively marketing that program in hopes of bringing up enrollment numbers. According to Ms. Sullivan, the district will need to curtail spending during 2022-23 to 84% of the budgeted amount to maintain expenditures that will preserve the unfunded balance of of $1.M which turns into the beginning fund balance for 2023-24. To look over the financials on the monthly report for yourself, please visit https://meetings.boardbook.org/Documents/FileViewerOrPublic/2548?file=4c7bb556-1f25-478f-9edc-492bbebb428d&isFromMeeting=True.
Some exciting developments were announced at the meeting. An Oregon Department of Education (ODE) grant was approved by the board to help keep Alsea students on track for graduation by meeting grade level expectations while moving through the grades. Also, Mr. Crowe has put together a super cool proposal to partner with Selco Credit Union to install a weather station at the school to study the impact of new forest growth on temperature. ASB gave a thumbs up to his seeking grant funding for this project.
There is still time to voice your opinion about the qualifications for the new superintendent search that has commenced for ASD. Find the survey here https://meetings.boardbook.org/Documents/FileViewerOrPublic/2548?file=6110d0a3-286d-4555-9089-4f931cb9819e&isFromMeeting=True.
Don’t forget that if you are interested in filing for election to one of the three open school board seats, then it is time to sign up. Info at https://meetings.boardbook.org/Documents/FileViewerOrPublic/2548?file=e1388ea7-61ea-4a5d-902b-1c2abcd1fda0&isFromMeeting=True.
