Meeting in the RISD Central Administration Building last Wednesday, school trustees heard updates from campus principals on improvements since the start of classes last August.
RHS principal Tiffany Whitsel said her area of focus is getting students to write more in order to improve their writing skills.
“We’ve gone from having kids who would barely write a paragraph on the standardized test to completing an entire passage to where it was actually scored,” Whitsel said. “And it’s important for our kids to write because they will need to know how to write in order to get jobs even if they’re applying for a job that doesn’t necessarily require writing.”
Whitsel said she’s seen an increase in students taking algebra “mastering” the concepts, and noted 12 students recovered enough credits to be back with their desired class over the course of the school year.
Kelly Blair, junior-high principal, said she’s seen good scores in math and improvements in reading over the course of the year.
“We’ve reduced the number of seventh and eighth graders who haven’t met the requirements in reading down to about seven percent,” Blair said.
Intermediate School principal Kathy Pelzel said the campus will project State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) scores based on how students performed in previous years.
Projections help her determine where individual students need emphasis in order to get the skills needed to master a subject. Pelzel said there has been a 5 to 15 percent increase in students meeting and mastering in all three grades.
Elementary Principal Alesha Eoff said her campus is also projecting scores.
“After they take assessments, we find where each individual students needs help in and try to fill in those holes to put them on track to be successful,” Eoff said.
“If you don’t fill holes, it leads to more holes down the line,” she said.
MULTI-SPORT—Trustees and administrators also discussed how to keep students at Rockdale High School involved in more than one sport when two sports have schedule conflicts.
Supt. Dr. Denise Monzingo said in the past, seasons hardly overlapped, but now with most activities it’s become quite a dilemma for students involved in many sports.
“Most sports start playing games a couple of weeks earlier than they used to,” Monzingo said. “A lot of students feel like they have to choose one of the two sports they are playing.”
“Now with soccer, which starts during the middle of basketball season and ends during baseball season, it creates more of a conflict since their games are also on Tuesday and Friday,” she said.
“I think kids should be able to choose a primary sport,” trustee Lin Perry said. “Say, if a kid plays soccer, but is a really good baseball player, maybe they could have an understanding with the soccer coach that when those sports conflict, they’re playing baseball that day.
“That way, a kid won’t be forced to pick between the two, and the soccer coach will know ahead of time that they won’t have that player on that day,” he said.
In other business, trustees:
• Continued a discussion on whether juniors and seniors should have off periods. Dr. Monzingo said the campus is moving towards reducing off-periods for seniors from two to one. Juniors will still have one off-period. Trustees will vote in February.
• Heard Maintenance Director Lance Weidler note his staff has fixed 15 roof leaks at the intermediate campus.
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