No School Wednesday

There will be no school Wednesday because of the possible winter storm passing through Nebraska. Most of the semester tests scheduled for tomorrow were moved to today in anticipation of bad weather.
I understand that some of the junior girls are worried about Santa having problems with bad weather Christmas Eve. I have information from a reliable source guaranteeing that Rudolph will once again come thorough and presents will arrive as scheduled.

Merry Christmas.

Teacher shortage in some subject areas

There is a shortage of teachers in some subject areas in Nebraska. This past week the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) received notification that the following endorsements have been officially designated by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) as teacher shortage areas for the 2009-2010 school year:

Agriculture
Art
English (Language Arts)
Foreign Languages
Guidance Counselor*
Industrial Technology
Mathematics
Music
Sciences
Special Education
Speech Language Pathology



Nebraska teachers in these subject areas can qualify for some loan forgiveness on their student loans. I suggest any current or future college students going into teaching to utilize student loans, even if you don't need them. There are several opportunities for loan forgiveness available (for example, you can get anywhere from $5000-$7500 forgiven if you teach in a low income school for 5 years).

Where were these programs when I started teaching?

Pictures from the Star City Parade

The B-R band performed at the Star City Parade Saturday December 5. Enjoy the pics.

Oral Reading Fluency

Oral reading fluency is a high priority reading skill in the Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary. Parents will often comment that they encourage their child to read a lot at home, and I always ask "Do you listen to them read out loud?" Reading orally is the best way to determine reading ability (not comprehension) in young readers. We use the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) assessment.

ORF is a standardized set of passages and administration procedures designed to (a) identify children who may need additional instructional support, and (b) monitor progress toward instructional goals. The passages and student goals are grade level appropriate. Student performance is measured by having students read a passage aloud for one minute. Words omitted, substituted, and hesitations of more than three seconds are scored as errors. Words self-corrected within three seconds are scored as accurate. The number of correct words per minute from the passage is the oral reading fluency score.

We use the Retell assessment to measure comprehension at the older grade levels.

All DIBELS assessment are given by the Reading Coach, Mrs. Vogt. She is in the process of giving the mid-year reading assessments to students in grades K-6 and the results should be in before Christmas break.

Football Districts

The football districts for next year have been released.


District D1-1:
Schools Assigned:
Concordia
Lyons-Decatur Northeast
Omaha Christian Academy
Omaha St. Peter Claver
Scribner-Snyder
West Point Central Catholic

District D1-2:
Schools Assigned:
Bancroft-Rosalie
Emerson-Hubbard
Omaha Nation
Pender
Walthill
Winnebago

Fall Academic All-State

The following B-R students received NSAA academic all-state for fall activities.

Football
Jalen Flock
Mitchell Hawk

Play Production
Jacob Hennig
Taylor Ostrand

Volleyball
Kalene Anderson
Taylor Ostrand

Job outlook for future graduates

The following research results are provided through the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

They examined educational requirements for projected job growth and the findings are staggering: The percentage of the workforce requiring some college or above grew from 28% in 1973 to 59% in 2007 and is expected to increase to 62% by 2018. The demand for an increasingly skilled and educated workforce is growing steadily; unless we increase output from postsecondary institutions, the demand for college talent will exceed its supply.

In 1970, high school dropouts were three times as likely to be unemployed as degreed workers; today, high school dropouts are five times as likely to be unemployed as degreed workers. When the recession is over, most of the non-college jobs lost will not be coming back, and a growing share of new job openings will require some college.

These research findings are similar to what other experts are saying. That jobs are increasingly requiring some level of education beyond high school. This fact is what is driving the push for higher academic requirements in high school.

School Board meeting news

Baseball is back at B-R and an architect was approved to draw up a proposed addition to the B-R school. Below is a summary of last night's board meeting.

The December meeting of the Bancroft-Rosalie School Board was held Monday, December 14, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the school library. Dr. Cerny presented the November transportation report, the vehicle replacement schedule, a Certificate of Recognition from ALICAP, a report on the Department of Education NCLB monitoring visit, and the Rural Business Innovation grant program. A job description for the Business Manager/administrative secretary position was presented. This position will be advertised and applications accepted through January 15th and hiring done at the February board meeting.

In old business, the board approved a cooperative agreement with Pender Public Schools for baseball in 2010 and 2011. The schools are accepting applications for a head coach and a coaches’ aide. The board also approved an agreement with Beckenhauer Construction and BVH architects to provide schematic floor plans, elevations, and cost estimates for additions and renovations to the Bancroft-Rosalie School for a consulting fee of $6,000.

In new business the board approved the 2008-09 audit and the 2008-09 annual report. The staff Christmas gathering at the Country Pub was set for Wednesday, December 23. No action was taken to support of the Nebraska “Race To The Top” grant application. The board discussed storage of Fine Arts Booster supplies.

Baseball on board agenda for tonight

The Bancroft-Rosalie and Pender school boards will be taking action tonight on a proposal for a cooperative sponsorship of baseball this spring. The administrators at both schools worked together to come up with a proposal that spells out the responsibilities of each school. Mr. Hulstein, athletic director at B-R, will be in charge of scheduling and hiring umpires. He has contacted nearby schools with baseball programs and has several dates for games, pending board approval. B-R has twelve players interested in playing and Pender has 7. That will give the program good numbers if there is a team this spring.
The schools have agreed to split expenses 50-50. B-R will be the fiscal agent and provide the transportation to away games. Pender will arrange for concessions and take gate at games. Mr. Dolliver will make the decision on home game cancellations due to weather. Home games will be played in Pender. Outdoor practices will be in Pender and indoor practices are tentatively set for the Rosalie gym. If both board approve the cooperative agreement, the coaching position will be advertised in the Pender Times for two weeks. The coach and any coaches’ aides will need to be approved by both school boards. The Pender legion team has okayed the use of their uniforms and equipment for this spring. Both schools intend for this to be a long term commitment, and plan to work with the legion to help with future uniform and equipment needs.
Possible opponents include South Sioux City, Norfolk, Fremont, Blair, Arlington, Yutan-Mead, Wahoo-Raymond Central, Douglas County West, Elkhorn, Omaha Roncalli, Bennington, and Columbus. Obviously, bigger schools will provide tough competition, and the team will have to play well to be competitive. But it will provide opportunities for these 19 boys to participate in a spring activity (only a few have been in track) and it will bring back a high school baseball program that ended in Bancroft in 1984 when high school ball in Northeast Nebraska folded.

Neihardt program Sunday at 2:00 pm

Remember there is a program at the Neihardt Center this Sunday. Author Joseph Starita will present a program on the writing of his historical works, “I am a Man: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice” and “The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey.”

The program should be interesting and enjoy some refreshments in the Neihardt library afterwards. Please be sure to sign the guest book, so that the historical society will have an accurate count of visitors to the Center.

B-R students check with Mr. Hulstein ot Mr. Peters about possible points for attending. Find out why Standing Bear is such an important figure in American History.

New mileage rate for pupil transportation

The Nebraska Department of Administrative Services (DAS) has decreased the reimbursement rate for mileage.



Effective January 1, 2010, the new rate is $.50.



Prior to January 1, 2010, the rate was $.55.



The rates for parent transportation and enrollment option transportation Effective January 1, 2010, will be the State Mileage Rate of $.50.
· Regular Resident District Students: 285% of .50 = 1.425
· Enrollment Option Reimbursement: 142.5% of .50 = .7125

Prior to January 1, 2010, the State Mileage Rate was $.55.
· Regular Resident District Students: 285% of .55 = 1.5675
· Enrollment Option Reimbursement: 142.5% of .55 = .78375

State Board increases graduation requirements

Yesterday the Nebraska State Board of Education increased graduation requirements for math and science by one semester. The new requirements are 4 years of English, 3 years of Math, 3 years of Science, and 3 years of Social Studies.
These new requirements match the exisiting requirements at Bancroft-Rosalie in these subject areas, so it should not affect our school.
The only area I would like to see changed at B-R is in math. I would like to see the school require that students be enrolled in a math class all four years of high school. Skipping a year of math in high school can cause a student problems when they continue their education at a post-secondary institution.
I am interested in what B-R alumni feel about four years of math.

B-R Audit information

For those of you who like to look at numbers, here is demograhic data, teacher information, facilities information, and financial information from the 2008-09 school year audit.

I. DISTRICT DEMOGRAPHICS

1. K-12 Enrollment 282
Pre-school Enrollment 21
2. Average Daily Attendance K-12 94.32%
3. Number of Certificated Personnel 27.60 FTE
4. Number of Classified Personnel 19.5
5. Enrollment by Grade Level:
Half-day K- 2
K- 20
1st- 24
2nd- 17
3rd- 20
4th- 18
5th- 18
6th- 19
7th- 20
8th- 15
9th- 34
10th- 26
11th- 25
12th- 24

6. Student to Certified Staff Ratio 10.2 to 1
7. Hours of Instruction- K- 1187 Elem- 1187 Sec- 1236


II. PROFESSIONAL STAFF
1. Percentage of classes taught by teachers with an endorsement in that subject: Pre 100.0%
K-6 100.0%
7-8 100.0%
9-12 93.0%

2. Certified Staff Qualifications:
Doctorate 1
Master’s Degree 10
Bachelor’s Degree 17
Average Year’s of Experience 15.77


III. PHYSICAL FACILITIES Age

Gym in Rosalie 1964
Bancroft Gym Addition 1939
Metal Building Addition in Bancroft 1968
Metal Building Addition in Bancroft 1997
Main Building in Bancroft 1998


IV. BUDGET
1. GENERAL FUND
A. Sources of Income:
Total Local Property Taxes 1,555,118
Total Motor Vehicle Taxes 99,297
Total Other Local Revenues 4,358
Total County Receipts 13,016
Total State Aid 681,302
Total State Special Education 164,928
Total Other State Receipts 151,265
Total Federal Receipts 252,384
Total Receipts 2,921,668

B. Expenditures:
Salaries 1,463,120
Benefits 470,958
Purchased Services and Utilities 343,593
Supplies and Materials 94,403 Furniture and Equipment 6,050
Debt Service 194,961
Other Expenditures 14,341
Transfers 6,000
Federal Programs 311,520
Total Expenditures 2,904,946

C. GENERAL FUND BALANCE
Balance 8-31-08 572,599
Receipts 2,921,668
Disbursements 2,904,946
Cash Balance 8-31-09 589,321

2. ACTIVITY FUND
Balance 8-31-08 81,349
Receipts 181,470
Disbursements 202,736
Balance 8-31-09 60,083

3. LUNCH FUND
Balance 8-31-08 24,690
Receipts 156,836
Disbursements 160,533
Balance 8-31-09 20,993

4. BUILDING FUND
Balance 8-31-08 87,568
Receipts 4,140
Disbursements 28,043
Balance 8-31-09 63,665

5. DEPRECIATION FUND
Balance 8-31-08 65,108
Receipts 1,307
Disbursements 31,803
Balance 8-31-09 34,612

6. BOND FUND
Balance 8-31-08 155,496
Receipts 65,093
Disbursement 138,862
Balance 8-31-09 81,727

7. COOPERATIVE FUND
Balance 8-31-08 60,325
Receipts 7,270
Disbursements 17,000
Balance 8-31-09 50,595

8. STUDENT FEE FUND
Balance 8-31-08 -(132)
Receipts 1,182
Disbursements 806
Balance 8-31-09 674

9. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT FUND
Balance 8-31-08 12,290
Receipts 27,780
Disbursements 30,076
Balance 8-31-09 9,994

10. TAX LEVY
General Fund 1.0310
Bond Fund K-8 0.0051
Bond Fund 9-12 0.0301
Total Levy 1.066

11. ACTUAL VALUE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT
Dept. of Revenue Adjusted Valuation Certification-2008

Agland 126,402,367
Residential Real Property 24,854,711
Ag. Improvements and Farmsites 6,632,765
Centrally Assessed Real and Personal Prop. 4,093,274
Commercial and Industrial Real Property 3,009,941
Personal Property 8,576,038
Total Assessed Value 173,569,096
12. Average Per Pupil Cost (ADM) $ 8,368.55

The importance of the ACT test

Bancroft-Rosalie will start ACT test prep with the juniors in February. We use the John Baylor test prep program. If students complete the John Baylor program, the school will pay the fee for students to take the April test. If students get their ACT test homework done for every session, they will receive a $20 gas card. These costs are paid for by the EducationQuest grant, which is $5000 a year for four years. We are in the second year of the grant.

Why does the school take the ACT test so seriously?

In-state colleges and universities: most students can get in without ACT Preparation, but increasing that score can mean thousands of dollars saved.

UNL, UNK, UNO: students need a 20 or higher to get in (average score in Nebraska is a 22.1). But students typically need at least a 27 to be considered for the NU Honors College-- worth $500 per year plus the Honors Dorm and Honors Courses, meaning fewer and more capable students per
class. A Regents Scholarship usually requires at least a 30 for consideration-- a Regents means free tuition for all 4 years or about $32,000 saved by the family. So 30 is usually the magic number (depending on GPA and class rank) for big scholarship money within the University of Nebraska's 3 campuses.

Peru, Wayne, Chadron: students need at least a 17 to get in typically. A 25-26 (or higher) usually means 4 years of free tuition or about $24,000 saved. So 25 or 26 is often the magic number (depending on GPA and class rank) for big money within the state colleges.

Nebraska's private colleges are now about $28,000 total a year, with Creighton charging about $38,000 annually. You're in usually with a 20 or higher, but each point typically is worth about $500 a year in financial aid. So a student is admitted with a 22, but if she jumps her score to a 25, that's about $1500 more in aid a year times 4 years or $6000 in savings. The exact scholarship formula for Dana, Doane, Wesleyan, Midland Lutheran, Concordia, Hastings, St. Mary's, etc... differs slightly for each school, but the $500 per year per ACT point is typical (below is the exact formula used by Wesleyan for scholarships based solely on ACT scores-- these amounts are the dollars saved each year for 4 years). The $500 per point per year is a rough estimate for Nebraska's private colleges and actually can understate the impact of score increases. For example, just a 1-point jump from a 28 to a 29 for Wesleyan means an increase in annual aid from $7500 to $9000.

ACT Composite Score Class Rank Scholarship Award
32 and up NA Board of Governors Scholar Award $11,500
29-31 NA Wesleyan Scholar Award $10,000
27-28 or Top 10% Fredstrom Scholarship $8,500
24-26 or Top 25% President's Scholarship $7,000
22-23 or Top 33% Recognition Scholarship $5,500

Merit-based aid at Nebraska's private and public colleges usually is only earned in high school. Once enrolled in college, a student typically cannot qualify for or increase her merit based aid based on college grades or performance.

Out-of-state colleges desperately seek small town Nebraska students-- a rare commodity in the nation's pool of potential college applicants. Thus, small town Nebraska students enjoy geographic affirmative action in the high stakes, out-of-state, selective college admissions process. This advantage over students from Omaha-- not to mention Connecticut, Illinois, and California-- is significant. The further away a college is, the more it wants rural Nebraska students for diversity's sake. However, because of distance, out-of-state schools may not fully appreciate the other elements of the application-- GPA and extra-curricular achievement. Thus, the ACT score weighs heavily in both admissions and financial aid decisions at out-of-state schools.

Simply put, for Nebraska colleges and universities, most students can get admitted with a 20, but raising that ACT score is absolutely the best paying job a high school student will ever have. For out-of-state colleges and universities, it's critical for both financial aid and admissions.

Snow Day

There are probably some who wondered why the decision to close school Tuesday was made last night without a single snowflake coming down. The forecast is calling for 6-10 inches of snow this afternoon and tonight with high winds starting in the early evening. Sometimes forecasts are wrong as storms change their path or weaken as they move, but this time the weather forecasters are sure of their predictions. Enough so that Lincoln and Omaha made the decision to call off school and declare a snow emergency last night in anticipation of possible blizzard-like conditions this evening.
Maybe we could have tried an early out, but the day would have been spent trying to guess when to let out so the kids could get home before the storm made road conditions dangerous. In these situations not much learning takes place as everybody looks out the window watching the snow fall and wondering when the call will be made to send everyone home. I scheduled 184 student days on the school calendar with the expectation that we would have school on 180 of those days. So far we have avoided using any for fall sports, which means after today there are 3 “snow days” left. It is important to maximize instructional time because the state aid formula rewards school districts that are above the average number instructional hours. That average is derived from schools in our comparability group. Basically, that means that the more hours we have school, the more state aid we receive. Last year our instructional time allowance, as it is called, was over $121,000. This aid will be more difficult to obtain in future years as schools start increasing their student time in school to try and qualify for the time allowance.
Students enjoy the day off and be careful on the roads. Don’t travel if you don’t have to.

Sophomore PLAN test Results

B-R sophomores took the PLAN test October 27 and the school received the results last week. The PLAN test is a pre-ACT test that will give us an idea of the students’ academic strengths and weaknesses in the four areas assessed by ACT (English, Math, Reading, and Science reasoning).
We had 31 students take the test. Twenty-two (22) students scored above the 50th percentile, or above average, on their composite test score. This was a higher number than scored on any individual test, which means that several students scored high on one or two parts of the test, bringing their overall average up. Here are the subject areas tests and the number of students above 50% (a typical school would have half of the students, 15-16 in this case, above 50%:
English 15/31
Math 16/31
Reading 20/31
Science 17/31
Here are the numbers of students scoring above the 75% in the subject area tests (a typical school would have 25% of the students score at this level, or 8 in our school):
English 6
Math 8
Reading 4
Science 9
The math course students were taking made a noticeable difference in how they performed on the Math test.
Algebra II students- All 11 scored above 50%, and 7 scored above 75%. The decision years ago to teach Algebra in 8th grade to students that are ready continues to pay dividends.
Geometry- 4 of the 9 scored above 50%.
Applied Math I and II- 1 of 11 scored above 50%.
None of the sophomore students are currently taking Algebra.
The results tell us that B-R School is getting the majority of our sophomore students prepared for college. We are doing well with the high achieving students in Math and science reasoning.
The results are also broken down by student reported racial groups. It was interesting to note that students who considered themselves “mixed race” performed better as a group than students who reported themselves as being “Caucasian/white”. I am glad to see that we are getting results for all groups of students.

Checking Student Obesity

A bill in the Ohio legislature would require public school students to have body mass index measurements taken in kindergarten, third, fifth and ninth grades. The bill is being proposed is response to media reports concerning obesity, including a new study that estimates if obesity trends continue on their current path, more than 40 percent of adults in the United States will be obese by 2018. The study estimates that about $344 billion in annual medical-related expenses would go towards obesity by 2018, equaling about 21 percent of health-care spending.
The bill would require that the results of the Body Mass Index screening be placed on the school’s annual report card. Some Ohio administrators are concerned with how this information might be used. Will the media rank schools according to obesity numbers? Will they be grouped into "fat" and "thin" schools?
I applaud schools that are measuring Body Mass Index of students and using this information to help the student understand about how nutrition and exercise can affect body fat. Body Mass Index is relatively easy to calculate, but it can vary quite a bit depending on who is doing the measuring. Since the numbers may not be accurate, I question whether the schools’ numbers should be made public. And I am against legislature’s placing more unfunded mandates on the schools. It is possible that B-R will be measuring Body Mass Indexin the near future, but I would not appreciate the legislature making that decision for us.

Cell Phones as Instructional Tools in School

Most schools have policies restricting cell phones in school. But according to an Apple computer representative, the Apple I Phone will be the next technology finding its way into the school. Seventy-one percent of teens had a cell phone by early 2008, according to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Cell phones have become the equivalent of small computers — able to check e-mail, do Internet searches and record podcasts. A few teachers have incorporated the use of cell phones into their classes, as calculators in math, cameras for student projects, and for communicating in Spanish classes.

Most people understand the value of student cell phones. There will be a time when schools require cell phones in their classrooms just like they calculators. First we have to find an answer to the problem of “sexting”, cheating, unauthorized texting to friends during class, and sending bullying or harassing text messages. Schools have the ability to control what students can access on computers and can monitor what they are doing. Not so with student cell phones. Cell phones have the potential to be a valuable instructional tool, once we start trusting students to use them in appropriate ways.

If you want to read more about this, see http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jUQk2GnYkzO7XH5zQwqq6UJBVVjgD9C847N00

One Act gets second at districts

The play cast gave their best performance of the year and took home runner-up honors in a district that included two state champions and a state runner-up from last year. Stanton, last years C-2 champion, won the district, but B-R defeated last year's runner-up (Laurel-Concord) and last year's D-1 champion (Winside).
Congratulations Play cast, Crew, and Coaches on a fine season and for adding another district plaque on the wall.