M-P board accepts adequate yearly progress report

by Mary Coblentz
The Mid-Prairie School Board Monday accepted the adequate yearly progress report which was presented by Wellman Elementary and Washington Township principal Evan Parrott.
The report, which is required annually as part of the No Child Left Behind act, showed that Mid-Prairie met the goals set by the Iowa Department of Education in all but a few cases.
Parrott said that areas in which Mid-Prairie was especially strong include elementary math, high school graduation rates, and middle school and elementary attendance rates.
Areas that were not strong included reading for elementary students for low socio-economic status students, reading and math scores for special education students at the middle school, and reading for low socio-economic students at the middle school.
Parrott and middle school principal Nancy Hurd outlined steps being taken to address the lower scores.
In other business, the board:

• approved the hiring of Richard Oldfield as bus driver, replacing Carol Ewalt;
• approved the hiring of Olivia Stutzman as teaching assistant at Kalona Elementary, replacing Wendy Grimm;
• approved the hiring of Jordan TeBockhorst as second shift custodian at Kalona Elementary, replacing Hank Verploegen; and
• approved the transfer of $56,000 in SILO funds to debt service. The money will be used for property tax relief and is part of the M-P budget.

Board president Jim Hussey introduced school board candidate Stacia Bontrager to the board.