School program offers individualized learning for students

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

A tour of the classroom of teacher Cheryl Mutch, who gave the board an overview of the Virtual Prescriptive Learning class, was the first item the Nevada R-5 Board of Education dealt with Wednesday evening when it met at the middle school library. The class is for students performing below the expected grade level in math and language arts.

"VPL is a great way to engage students," Mutch said. "Some of these kids are very successful and they haven't been successful in the regular program."

The program is individualized instruction using a computer program that tracks the students progress and, if necessary, repeats lessons until the student understands the material.

Superintendent Ted Davis thanked Richard Holder for the equipment the Social Security Office donated to the school district. "I want to thank Mr. Holder for all he has done for the district," Davis said. "He has donated several pieces of equipment that have really helped us out."

The board discussed the Lights On After School program, an extended day instructional program, that started Monday. "We have had exceptional response to this program," Davis said. "Students continue to sign up for the program and we expect 300 students in grades K through five. As you can guess there are a few of us staying a little later these days."

Chance Wistrom, high school principal, gave the board and overview of the program designed to increase freshman success rate. "It seems some of our younger students weren't being all that successful," Wistrom said. "This program helps those freshmen students who are getting Ds and Fs by keeping an eye on them. Grade checks are conducted by teachers every three weeks and parents are contacted if their students are earning a grade of D or F."

"Those students are discussed at a meeting of the intervention team the following Monday," Wistrom said. "At this meeting teachers collaborate on the background and behavior of these students as well as the strategies that have generated success. The students report to the instructor during the activity period for assistance in remedial work. They are not allowed to attend other meetings during this time and must attend these meetings for three weeks until the next grade check."

Wistrom said the program was already having an impact. "We've seen a 51 percent reduction in the number of students earning an F and a 56 percent reduction in the total number of Fs," Wistrom said. "I really believe we're going to see many other benefits from this program."

Board member Steve Cubbage asked Davis if the program could be integrated into the extended school day program. Davis responded that it wouldn't work out well. "It's very difficult to tie in the students in this program with the Lights On program," Davis said. "The focus needs to be on the students who are not doing as well and that might not be possible mixing the two programs."

The board reviewed the 2005-2006 budget and voted to revise it to take into account actual revenues and expenditures. "There are no major changes in the budget," Davis said. "This just reflects some savings in some areas and some additional expenses in others. As it stands now we're showing $22,167,000 budgeted with $22,182,000 in revenue so we're in the black by $15,000."

Assistant Superintendent Christie Peterson gave the board an overview of the annual review of technology in the district. She included an inventory that showed the district had 1,284 computers, 1,270 of them Internet capable.

"As the Pentium III and older computers that aren't Internet capable break down we replace them with faster, more capable computers," Peterson said.

The board voted to approve participation in the Missouri Purchasing Resource Center Energy Consortium.

The consortium provides a cost savings solution for the purchase of natural gas. The savings the first year are estimated to be $7,926 and in following years the savings should be more than $20,000.

The board also reviewed the candidate filing dates for the two terms expiring April 4, those held by Chris Ellis and Dr. Warren Lovinger. The filing opens on Dec. 13, 2005, at 8 a.m. in the district office at the high school and closes Jan. 17, 2006, at 5 p.m.