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News and information for staff members and the Madison community

Vol. I No. 1 - November 18, 2005

Summary of November 7, 2005 Board of Education Meetings

Carol Carstensen, President, Board of Education

The Performance & Achievement Committee heard the second half of the presentation on the Behavior and Discipline Plan being developed by staff.

This is a comprehensive, districtwide, approach to discipline that focuses on encouraging positive behavior, on structuring the environment to support positive behavior, but also being clear on what is not acceptable behavior and ensuring that students take ownership for their behavior.

Part of the plan is to provide staff development for teachers to equip them with a "toolkit of strategies" to use with students. Parents will also be involved in learning about this approach as each school develops its discipline plan.

Special Board meeting action:

1. Agreed to purchase land on the far west side for a future elementary school. The decision to build a school (on either parcel) will be determined by overall space needs and passing a referendum.
2. The Board transferred all the transportation routes previously handled by Mr. Mom's to several other companies, all of whom have previously provided transportation for the district.

The Superintendent presented the annual report on the district's progress on the Board's 3 goals; the most significant improvement was in the number of students successfully completing algebra.

1. All students reading at grade level by the end of 3rd grade: performance continues to improve for all students and for all ethnic and racial subgroups; the district has eliminated the achievement gap among similar income groups and is narrowing the gap between racial/ethnic groups.
2. All students completing algebra and geometry by the end of 10th grade: this is the area of most significant change this year; the total percentage of students completing algebra has increased from 58% to 72% since 2000-01; African-American and Hispanic students have nearly doubled their completion rates to 50%. While there is still a lot of work to be done, but we are beginning to see actual progress.
3. Achieving a 94% attendance rate: most students achieve this rate (or are very close) except at the high school where several groups have not achieved the goal and where there has been some decline over the last 3 years for all groups. This is a major concern and staff will be discussing possible ways to respond.

Board of Education Meeting Summaries

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Last Updated: Tue Mar 28 12:17:49 2006
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