By Annie MartinThe Daily Northwestern
Improving elementary bilingual and special education and meeting No Child Left Behind standards are among the goals for the 2006-07 school year set Monday night by the District 65 Board of Education.
The board voted 6-1 to approve a set of goals for the year and a rubric to evaluate superintendent performance. The measures are intended to hold Superintendent Hardy Murphy accountable for district success. Although board members disagreed on specifically how to evaluate the superintendent, they agreed the board needs a way to give Murphy feedback.
“Having a specific set of criteria helps us evaluate,” board member Mary Rita Luecke said.
To develop the criteria, the board has been working with former Superintendent and Board Consultant James Warren. For each category the superintendent will be given an “exemplary,” “meets expectations” or “needs improvement” rating.
“The problem is, if you don’t have a goal that’s measured, a lot of times it doesn’t get done,” Luecke said.
Categories in the evaluation instrument include supervision administered, relationship with school board, and educational leadership and curriculum.
“What we’re trying to create is momentum and a team effort,” Murphy said.
Earlier in the year, the board devised an official job description for the superintendent. The board had not previously written out the superintendent’s duties and responsibilities.
The school board also decided General Student Fees will remain the same next year. Currently, families with one child pay $87, while families with two or more students pay $174.
The district had considered using a sliding system, in which families would pay more for each additional child in the district. The district has charged these fees, which offset the costs of lunchtime supervision and classroom materials, since the 2003-04 school year.
Dewey Elementary also accepted a $7,500 grant from the Irvin Stern Foundation for the eighth consecutive year. Funds go toward teachers’ classroom expenses, printer cartridges, software and books for the accelerated reading program and supplies, materials and supports for special education students.
Sam’s Club also donated $1,000 for technology enhancements at Bessie Rhodes Magnet School.
“People don’t have to do this, so we appreciate it,” Board Member Jerome Summers said.
Retired teacher Gerald Adler gave a presentation to the board about the possibility of a referendum to opt out of No Child Left Behind restrictions. He proposed using an occupational sales tax on services such as hair salons to replace the federal funding schools would lose.
Adler said the district needs to avoid “the hijacking and kidnapping of education under this law.” He said he has collected hundreds of signatures from community members in favor of the sales tax and urged the board to put the issue to a vote.
“A teacher’s working conditions are a child’s learning conditions,” Adler said. “(No Child Left Behind) gives children a six-foot pole and is asking them to vault 18 feet.”
Reach Annie Martin at [email protected].
