Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
During the regular meeting of the Madison County District School Board on Tuesday, Jan. 17, the board members heard from Robin Hill, Curriculum Coordinator for the district. Hill gave a presentation comparing the numbers of referrals from August to December of the 2021-2022 school year to the same time period of the current school year. Overall, the number of referrals from across the district dropped from 2,164 referrals during the first semester of last year to 1,301 referrals so far this year. The numbers at Madison County High School (MCHS) dropped from 950 to 480. Hill stated she felt one reason for the drop in the MCHS numbers are due to the difference in the reporting of excessive tardies. Now, instead of a referral, the tardy may be handled by a teacher with lunch detention, etc. At Madison County Central School (MCCS) referrals on the elementary school side were 467 last year, compared to 225 this year. MCCS middle school referrals dropped from 630 to 487. Hill said dividing MCCS into two separate schools has contributed to the drop in the number of referrals. Another contributing factor, according to Hill, is the fact that teachers now have tools to use in the classroom, before issuing an office referral. The board members also heard a financial report from Rose Raynak, the district's Chief Financial Officer. Raynak reminded the board that there are COVID relief grants that will be ending in the near future. Some of these grants funded positions within the district. Raynak was careful to state that the positions would possibly be going away, but not the people. The board approved an agreement with Creative Learning Family Childcare Home, LLC for daycare services for students who may have children of their own. According to the agreement, the school board agrees to pay full-time daily rates of $40 for infants under 12 months of age, $30 for toddlers age one to two years and $30 for children over two years of age. The daily rate for part-time infants under 12 months of age is $30, toddlers age one to two years is $25 and $25 for children age two and over. The board also approved a plan to address the issue of some class sizes being over the 18-student limit. There were three classes at Pinetta Elementary School and 14 classes at MCCS. The reasoning for this is related to a loss of teachers. In each case, the district continues to advertise the open teaching positions. The district will also “review our school choice plan going forward to determine if there are ways to entice students to attend other schools when a school cannot meet the class size requirement. The next regular meeting of the Madison County District School Board is scheduled to take place on Monday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m. The meeting is set to take place in the district meeting room, at 210 NE Duval Ave., in Madison