Agenda items for the meeting include:
• Homecoming activities;
• Helicopter heave;
• Membership Drive update;
• Events throughout year;

Established in the fall of 2008, the goal of the booster club is to be an organization which serves as a support group for all athletics and extra-curricular activities that pay an activity fee at Sibley East.

Promoting Area Wolverine Spirit (PAWS) is the theme used by the booster club. The club’s purpose is to support and promote all activities and groups at the Sibley East Junior and Senior High by uniting efforts of students, parents, coaches, faculty, staff and community members in a way that enhances the sharing of school spirit, and provide moral as well as financial support.

During the 2009-2010 school year, the booster club provided monetary support for the following: purchasing helmets for the football team; helped supply a tent for the boys and girls track teams; purchase of adjustable backboard for the girls’ basketball team; equipment purchases for the weight room. In addition, the booster club supported the volleyball, soccer and tennis programs in various ways. The club also provided prizes for homecoming and the helicopter heave.

The booster club continues to look for new and renewed memberships, as well as assistance with various club committees. Membership renewal forms will be mailed shortly. Anyone interested in becoming a new member can access a membership form under community groups on the school’s website.

There are three levels of business memberships to the booster club:

• A Gold Level member pays $100 per year. A Gold Level member receives a PAWS window decal, a pocket calendar, and a “Gold Member” T-Shirt or wall plaque;

• A Black Level member pays $50 per year and receives a PAWS window decal and pocket calendar;

• A White Level member pays $25 per year and receives a PAWS decal;

Sibley East Public School, this spring, received four grants to help fund a Farm-to-School program. Under the program, ag students and teachers planted and are harvesting a one acre vegetable plot in Arlington. Sibley East was awarded $5,525 from the Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council, $2,500 from AgStar, $1,000 from the Minnesota Valley Electric Co-op, and $1,000 from the Statewide Health Improvement Plan (SHIP).

Because of logistics, at this time Sibley East is just “piloting” the program at Arlington. This is not to say that as the school year progresses, that produce will not be provided in Gaylord, Superintendent Stephen Jones explained.

Since mid-August, Sibley East food service staff has worked with green and yellow beans, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, cabbage and squash. Head cook Joan Budahn estimated that the food service staff worked more than 30 hours prior to the start of school, freezing the fresh produce. Pumpkins, carrots, and kale have yet to be harvested.

Peas were planted but were eaten by deer.

Joan Budahn, head cook and food service employee for 29 years, said that 30 gallons of green beans and three gallons of yellow beans have been frozen. Beans will be used with hot dish and served as vegetables. Tomatoes are being made into salsa and will also be used fresh.

Cucumbers, so far, have been made into eight gallons of refrigerator pickles. They will be served with sub sandwiches and hamburgers.

Potatoes are being used for potato salad at a staff picnic and the smallest ones will be cooked and served with seasoned butter, like baby reds.

Onions will be used for potato salad, hamburgers, subs, and tacos.

Cabbage is being made into cole slaw. There will be a variety of uses for the squash.

“I’m very impressed with the FFA and the advisors,” Budahn said. She has spent the summer determining how to use the produce. She said it will be interesting to see how much food won’t need to be ordered.

The next steps in the process include looking forward to growing more vegetables for next years, and implementing a Farm-to-School program that will be district-wide.

According to Jones, statistics show that Farm-to-School programs are not cost-saving initiatives in the long run. Providing fresh fruits and produce is more costly. Jones said that is why there is pressure on the nation’s legislators to approve a boost in the federal food program’s reimbursement amount so schools can afford to provide more wholesome food to students.

For the past four years, Sibley East has participated in the Response To Intervention (RTI) program. The district received an $8,000 grant from the Minnesota RTI Center.

Mary Beth Schwirtz, program coordinator and master coach for the Minnesota Reading Corps, explained that Sibley East has had the program only in the elementary schools. The program will be expanded to preKindergarten and Junior High students this year.

Prior to the program, Sibley East had been giving interventions to students and benchmarking student progress.

As part of Response To Intervention, a problem-solving team was established. Data for each student is examined, and the student is matched up with the type of intervention to help him or her improve. The interventions have been small groups, such as Title I, or one-to-one interventions with paraprofessionals or the Minnesota Reading Corps. Progress is monitored each week.

Sibley East’s problem solving team meets monthly to look at graphs of every student’s progress. Students move in and out of the program, Schwirtz explained. Parents are notified and sign a letter approving of the interventions.

“Classroom teachers are wonderful by providing interventions in the classroom with students that may have some deficit,” Schwirtz said.

A key piece of the provide is to provide the intervention as soon as possible. By expanding the program, the only change will be that assessments and interventions will have to be developed for each age level.

Research has shown that approximately 75% of students identified with a reading problem in third grade are still reading disabled in ninth grade if not given an intervention. It is also estimated that the number of children who are typically identified as poor readers could be reduced by up to 70% through early identification and prevention programs.

Offering the Response To Intervention program is cost effective, Schwirtz says, because existing staff are used in different ways. The key, she said is to figure out the student needs and to try to get him or her up to grade level in reading and math. “The main thing is matching the intervention with the student,” she said.

More information is available on the Sibley East website.

Sibley East students in Grades 7-12 will start school on Tuesday, September 7.

There will be parent-teacher conferences for elementary students Sept. 7 and 8. The first day of school for elementary students is Thursday, Sept. 9.

ELEMENTARY
Sibley East is anticipating elementary school enrollment to be approximately 660 students, an increase of 30 students from one year ago, according to Principal Mari Lu Martens.

The additional students will be placed in existing classrooms. However, some of the support program teachers have been moved together to share a classroom, Martens said.

“We didn’t add any sections because of the additional students,” Martens explained. There are currently five sections of Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade.

Goals for the year are to enhance instruction and increase student engagement through the use of technology. Because of the successful elementary carnival last spring, enough funds were raised to have SMART boards in every elementary classroom. Plans are, as funds are raised, to add exterior speaker systems.

The elementary in Gaylord will also have access to two new mobile computer labs.

There are two new teachers/fellows at the elementary Dawn Klaiber, who will be teaching first grade in Arlington, and Dulcee Davenport, who will be teaching second grade in Arlington.

One change for elementary students this year is that art, music and physical education will be held throughout the year. In the past, art and music were held one semester. Jan Gieseke will be serving as the long-term substitute for Amanda Feterl in elementary art until November 1.

JUNIOR HIGH
The greatest change for Sibley East Junior High School this year will be the new, A-B Extended Day Schedule.

Most days, students will have four classes. Most classes will be 85 minutes in length. Band and choir will continue to be offered every other day.

The Junior High will hold its regular schedule on the first day of school.

“I’m expecting confusion, and after that it will be fine,” Junior High Principal Steve Harter predicted. Students will be granted some leniency the first few days.

The Gaylord Elementary and Junior High will have access to two new mobile wireless computer labs. Each has 30 computers.

The new computers will help with computer usage, Harter explained. There are already two stationary computer labs in the building.

Enrollment at Sibley East Junior High School, as of Sept. 25, was at 273 students in Grades 7-9.

“There are one or two sections that are larger than I would have liked,” Harter said. Classrooms will average 26 students.

Sibley East Junior High School is continuing with its cell phone policy. Cell phones may be turned into the office upon arrival at school and may be picked up after school.

There are two new faculty members. Tracie Bjorklund will teach Junior High FACS and Senior High health science. Joy Kempenick will teach Kindergarten – Grade 9 special education.

SENIOR HIGH
A new A-B Extended Day schedule and three new teachers highlight changes at Sibley East Senior High School this year.

On the first day of school, a general meeting for all students and staff will be held in the gymnasium from 8:20 – 8:30 a.m. Following the general meeting, class meetings will be held.

An abbreviated “A” schedule will be followed the first day for school.

The three new Senior High teachers are Chad Johnson, social studies and varsity wrestling coach; Andrew Kahler, physics, chemistry and forensics; and Tracie Bjorklund, who will teach health occupations on “B” days.

Enrollment at Sibley East Senior High School was at 275 students as of August 20. There are six foreign exchange students.

With the new schedule, policies will be developed on how to use the academic options periods in the middle of the day. During Academic Options, students must report to their assigned rooms at the assigned time. Students must bring homework to complete or leisure reading material each day. Students may request to see another teacher during their Academic Options period to receive help on assignments. It is the student’s responsibility to have a pass noted in the daily planner from the teacher you are seeking help from. Students are responsible for reporting to any teacher’s room that requests attendance on a particular day. Quiet study or leisure reading is expected in each room. MP3 players with headphones are allowed, but cell phone use is not allowed.

Toward the end of September. Amsden anticipates allowing Junior and Senior Privileges. The proposed policy is that Junior and Senior privileges are earned and can be removed by staff or parents at anytime for failing to meet requirements. Requirements include no failing grades at midterm, quarter or semester grading periods, maintaining at least a 2.0 quarterly grade point average, having no major or recurring behavioral referrals, no truancy or unexcused absences from class or required academic option teacher requests or meetings, failing to remain in approved “social spaces” and out of the “academic areas” without a pass, and driving without parent permission or with other students in your vehicle during your privilege time.

Students who meet requirements must have a signed parent permission form on file in the office to be granted Junior or Senior privileges.

Public meets will be held September 21 at the Arlington campus, September 28 at the Gaylord campus and October 5 in Green Isle, at a location yet to be determined. All meetings will be held at 7 p.m.

District residents are encouraged to attend one of the meetings at any of the three locations, according to Superintendent Stephen Jones.

Three options for Sibley East’s facility concerns will be presented. They are to make corrections only at all existing buildings, to correct deficiencies and space needs at all existing buildings and maintain existing grade alignment, and to construct a new preschool through Grade 12 building on a new site.

Estimated costs for making corrections only on all existing buildings is $16,538,614. The estimated cost for correcting deficiencies and space needs at all existing buildings, and maintaining the existing grade alignment, is $27,859,524.

The estimated cost for a new preschool to Grade 12 building vary from $39,000,000 to more than $41,000,000 depending where a new school building would be located. A site has not yet been selected for a new school, if the district chooses that option. The committee doesn’t want a site selected until the public has a chance to voice its opinion, according to Jones.

Information to be presented will include the financial impact provided by Ehlers, architectural information from Smiley Glotter Nyberg Architects of Minneapolis, enrollment information and projections, and operating cost comparisons between the current schools, remodeled schools, and a new school.

Amy Sell, coordinator of Sibley East ECFE, said that it was planned to offer two programs for four-year-olds in Gaylord, two programs for four-year-olds in Arlington, and one program for three-year-olds at each site this year.

However, because of the high enrollment, a third three-year-old class was added at the Arlington campus, with Gaylord students being bused to the site.

The four-year-old program, called PALS, is held three days per week. In Gaylord, it is held Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and in Arlington it is held Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

The Discovery program for three-year-olds is held two days per week. In Gaylord it is Tuesdays and Fridays, and in Arlington it is Wednesdays and Fridays.

Gaylord’s PALS and Discovery programs are all integrated with special education students.

Forty students are enrolled in PALs at Gaylord, and 35 in Arlington. For the Discovery program, there are 17 students enrolled in Gaylord and 16 enrolled in Arlington. With the third Discovery class, the classes will be divided.

“We feel the word is out that preschool is a very important step to Kindergarten,” Sell commented. “A lot is expected for children in Kindergarten. This will help get them ready for the next step.”

“We are fortunate to have busing available through the school district for a minimal cost to parents,” Sell said. The monthly fee for busing is $30/month for PALS and $20/month for Discovery.

At Gaylord there are five adults for 20 children, while at Arlington, there are two adults.

Early Childhood teachers are Sell and Stephanie Bandas. Irene Garcia serves as a bilingual paraprofessional. Other paraprofessionals for the program are Ann Koch and Rachel Marben.

In addition to the daytime preschool classes, other Early Childhood Family Education classes are also offered. A listing of classes may be found in the Sibley East Community Education book that is mailed to district residents, or look on the Sibley East website, www.sibleyeast.org. You may also contact Sell at 507-237-3379.

Current Gaylord City Council members Carl Wetzel and Brenda Pautsch have filed for mayor. The mayor has a two-year term. Pautsch’s term on the Council will expire the end of this year. Doug Quast, Gaylord’s mayor, announced last week that he would not be seeking re-election.

Four candidates have filed for three seats on the Gaylord City Council. They are incumbent Jessica Uecker, Susan Schmitt, Jim Landaas, and Shawn Losure.

Races have developed for mayor and City Council in New Auburn.

Pam Horton and Craig Lowden are challenging incumbent Roger Becker for mayor of New Auburn.

Four candidates, incumbent Elizabeth Frahm, Rebecca Brockoff, Linda Stark, and Sheri Lowden have filed for two, four-year terms on the City Council. Doug Munsch filed for the two-year term on the City Council.

Three incumbents have filed for three, four-year terms on the Sibley East Board of Education. Candidates are Anne Karl, Dan Woehler, and Scott Dose, all of Arlington.

Casey McCue of Green Isle and Beth DuFrane of Henderson have filed for the two-year term on the school board. The two-year term was placed on the ballot after the resignation of Jodi Hanson. Tim Dolan was appointed to fill Hanson’s seat until the end of the year.

Filing closed Tuesday at 5 p.m. The positions will be filled at the Nov. 2 general election.

Superintendent Stephen Jones said in February, he conservatively estimated enrollment to be 1,171 students, and these figures were used to calculate the 2010-11 budget.

Actual enrollment, as of August 10, was 1,207 students, which includes 20 students who will be attend River Bend in New Ulm. Enrollment information was provided at the school board meeting Monday night.

“It may be higher than this,” Jones said. These enrollment figures do not include any migrant students, he said.

Sibley East Elementary appears to have experienced the largest growth. Elementary Principal Mari Lu Martens said that 13 students withdrew from the district but 39 new students have enrolled, which is an increase of 26 students.

Because of high enrollment, new students in Kindergarten and Grade 2 will be attending the Arlington campus because of the space shortage at Gaylord.

The three sections of Grade 6 in Gaylord have 27 students in each, Jones said. Sharon Marshall currently has 29 students enrolled in her Grade 5 classroom at Arlington.

There have been no new enrollees from the Brownton area, Jones said.

In other business, Senior High Principal Jim Amsden reported that there are six foreign exchange students enrolled for the 2010-2011 school year.

In other business, the Board of Education:

• Hired Dolsee Davenport as a fellow for Grade 2 in Arlington and Dawn Klaiber as the fellow for Grade 1 in Arlington

• Approved advertising for replacement paraprofessional positions. There are four openings, two in Gaylord and two in Arlington.

• Allowed Michelle Dahn, Jayne Ihrke and Stephen Jones to do electronic fund transfers on behalf of the school district.

• Set the Truth-in-Taxation public hearing for Dec. 20 at 6 p.m.

• Provided consensus of support for granting an easement for the Gaylord walking trail north of the soccer field. Attorney Tony Nerud asked that a more accurate legal description of the requested easement be provided before the school board takes formal action on the request.

• Received a brief update from Winthrop City Administrator Mark Erickson on the proposed fiber optic to home and farm project.

The Court of Appeals, in its decision, affirmed the sentence given the District Court here in June 2009.

Kevin Jones was convicted in June 2009 of first degree criminal sexual conduct. In the fall of 2008, he was charged with five counts of criminal sexual contract after he reported had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old female student. The relationship lasted for nearly two years, according to court documents. He served as the student’s transportation director, bus driver for athletic events, and as a supervisor during the girl’s summer employment at the school.

Judge Stauber, in affirming the decision, noted that the district court found that Jones’ depression did not “impair his mental abilities or judgment to such an extent that he was unable to plan and execute his plan.”

A district court may depart from the presumptive guideline sentence only when “substantial and compelling circumstances are present,” Stauber wrote. “Whether to depart from the guidelines rests within the district court’s discretion, and this court will not reverse the district court absent an abuse of that discretion”.

A departure from the sentencing guidelines may be based on the mitigating factor that an “offender, because of physical or mental impairment, lacked substantial capacity for judgment when the offense was committed,” according to court documents.

Although Jones argued that the district court abused its discretion by denying his motion for a downward departure in sentencing because of the testimony of mental health professionals and that he was depressed and lacked substantial capacity for judgment, the court disagreed. “Although the district court agreed that appellant suffered from depression that resulted from the death of his daughter, the court found that appellant “clearly had the mental capacity to know that his actions were wrong, that they needed to be kept secret and to plan to ensure that it would in fact be kept secret.”

In addition to the 144 months in State Prison, Jones was also convicted on a charge of misdemeanor violation of a restraining order. He was given a 90-day concurrent sentence for that violation.

The results were released on the Minnesota Department of Education website last week. Lynn O’Brien, Sibley East’s test coordinator, presented the results at the school board meeting Monday.

District-wide, Sibley East was cited for not making adequate yearly progress in math proficiency for special education students.

Sibley East Elementary in Gaylord and Sibley East Senior High School in Arlington met adequate yearly progress in all areas.

Sibley East Elementary in Arlington did not meet adequate yearly progress in math for students who qualify for free and reduced lunch and in math for all students. Sibley East Junior High School in Gaylord did not meet adequate yearly progress in math for special education students.

Some of Sibley East’s groups include all students, Hispanic, white, limited English proficient, special education, and free/reduced lunch.

School districts are judged whether or not they are making adequate yearly progress based on the schools and districts achieving annual proficiency targets on state reading and math tests.

“We have come a long way,” Superintendent Stephen Jones said. “Last year we didn’t make it in 16 areas. This year we didn’t make it in four.”

Sibley East, last year, did not meet adequate yearly progress in nine areas of reading, but this year, Sibley East met adequate yearly progress in all categories for reading.

O’Brien explained that the reading test covers topics of vocabulary, comprehension and literature. The math test covers number sense, patterns, functions and algebra, data, statistics and probability, spatial sense, geometry and measurement.

There are 433 Minnesota school districts, 79.3%, that serve Title I schools. As a district with Title I Schools, Sibley East will be implementing a needs improvement plan in 2010-11. As part of this plan, the district must use Title I funds to provide professional development for the teaching staff to improve the quality of education.

Sibley East’s math action plan is focusing on the special education category, O’Brien said. The goal is to increase the number of proficient students in the special education category by 1% using the spring 2011 MCA results as a measurement.

Strategies identified to achieve the coal are to examine student identification, appropriate curriculum alignment with standards, clarify student schedules to include time for interventions, examine instructional delivery/engagement for special education students, examine at a granular level what the data says about individual students, make data electronically available to teachers and students, and to plan a parent math curriculum night.

Math curriculum is also being purchased for special education students that meets national standards.

Sibley East has also developed a reading action plan for 2010-2011. The goal is to increase Sibley East’s proficiency rate for MCA’s to 5% above the state average for all grades.

Strategies to implement the goal are to have 15 minutes of silent reading in Junior High homeroom every day, interventions, implement reading strategies in all content areas, each teacher create goals to support the reading goal, and have 85% of students meet grade level criteria by the end of the year.

O’Brien said that the district shouldn’t be afraid to “analyze progress and proactively plan for improvement.” She said there has been shifts from teaching focus to learning focus, teaching as a private practice to teachings as a collaborative practice, and for school improvement as an option, to school improvement as a responsibility.