Small Town News

Cheney school board talks WASL

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Test scores as a whole are improvement but some categories, grades decreasing slightly

A presentation of Cheney students' test scores topped the Sept. 23 meeting of the board.

The news was mostly good, but two schools in the district are considered to be in "improvement."

Carol Mahoney gave a presentation displaying the trends in test scores in Cheney schools, noting that most grades had higher marks over time.

Mahoney pointed to a graph of the seventh-grade test scores from the last several years.

"What we really want to see as a school district is we're seeing improvement over time," she said.

Schools as a whole made annual yearly progress, though low income and special education students did not in several categories. Mahoney also said the sixth-grade math tests were "slightly concerning" since the scores were decreasing slightly.

"When we see something like this happening, our administrators and teachers at the middle school are going to be looking at that and really analyzing it," she said. "Where are the deficits here for our students and how are we going to meet the needs of our students?"

Mahoney noted that Cheney Middle School and Sunset Elementary are "in improvement," which means parents with students there have the choice to move to another school if they wish.

Assistant superintendent Deb Clemens noted that though the majority of students pass the tests, improving over the years is the real goal.

"We need to make sure our kids meet expected growth," she said.

Maintenance and operations director Jeff McClure gave a report of the summer projects completed in the district, showing photos of the work.

Crews completed a patch on the roof of Betz Elementary.

"It's not pretty," he said. "At least it stopped raining in the Betz library."

McClure showed photos of the new bleachers and press box at the high school, before and after shots of a fixed crack in the floor at Sunset Elementary, and two new portable classrooms at Cheney Middle School.

There was also a fence installed at Salnave with funds from the Salnave PTO.

"They had some conspiratorial little preschoolers who would get together and then burst out running in different directions and they didn't have enough adults to catch them," McClure explained. "So they actually paid for a fence to go all the way to the bell tower so they can shut the gate and lock them in there. Not lock them in, keep them safe."

The board thanked McClure and his staff for their work.

Other business was covered at the meeting:

Student advisors Casey Alderman and Deanna Willman, seniors at Cheney High School, spoke about problems with Black-hawk Connections, an advocacy program designed to connect students with a teacher-mentor and with other students. Alderman and Willman said students complain about the class being pointless. "I don't know if for starting freshmen it's different but with the upper classes I've not heard anything good about it," Will-man said. The board asked that they talk with other students and teachers about ways to improve the program.

The board approved a new policy regarding concussions and head injuries that requires coach training and signatures from parents on forms providing information about the injuries.

The board approved a revised version of the school's "Community Use of School Facilities" policy. It requires that non-student users have proof of insurance and have completed - the new training for concussion knowledge and preparedness.

Becky Thomas can be reached at Becky@cheneyfreepress.com.



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© 2009 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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