A/C School Board Discussed Several Topics

January 9, 2025

News – Sheridan Media

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On Wednesday, January 8, the SCSD#3 Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the school. Teacher Joslyn Camino, Elementary Instructional Coach, gave a presentation on how well the students are performing and how they have achieved growth from last fall until now.

They use MAP as well as Acadience Reading and Acadience Math as screening tools. She had graph that showed the progress over the first half of the school year, and most students obtained growth during that period. She talked about how it maps the range of how the students are doing.

In is technology report, Jonathan Broersma reported that they are updating the A/C Parents App, and making it more user friendly.

The board also moved to approve the contract for Food Service Supervisor/Business Manager Greg Rohrer for another year. They also moved to appoint and approve the board policy review committee, and Trustee Deb Guyer volunteered to be a part of the committee. Trustee Gina Hackett agreed to serve on the salary and benefits review committee.

The board also approved to increase district retirement contribution by 2.25%, and decrease employee contribution by 2.25%.

Several items from the recent WSBA meeting were discussed by the board, including what strategies are in place should something happen to the superintendent? Superintendent Chase Christensen said that the administrative team that was in place could keep the school running.

Another topic that created a lot of discussion was “What does homework look like for our students?” Christensen talked about what they hope to do.

Jonathan Broesma, fifth grade teacher, said he felt that the students had enough opportunity in class to complete the assignments without taking them home, although occasionally the students may have a chapter assigned to read at home or a math problem to complete.

Cell phone policy was another discussion item, and Christensen talked about the three-strike policy, where if a student had their cell phone out three times during class, the teacher would give them a strike, and after three they have to turn in their phones.

He felt that the board could write the correct cell-phone policy if necessary one that was beneficial to everyone.

He said that recently cooks Aubrey Holland and Greg Rohrer served a tremendous lunch, and while the students talked during lunch, it was kind of a ‘speed eating’ contest so the students could leave the lunchroom and go into the hall to talk on their phones.

One suggestion was that students who turned their phones in to their “house leader” their RCA House would get points.

Trustee Dusty Hackett said he was ‘old school’ and he felt that students should not have the cell phones in school.

Christensen agreed but,

Other topics discussed were offering students job shadow opportunities, which A/C High School does. Another question was how the school engages in community services, and Christensen said they did several projects in the community and hope to do more. He added that the greenhouse will be another way to engage with the community.

Christensen gave an update on the old Arvada school property, which is listed with Karlon Knudson of 307 Real Estate. There are five lots and a 3400 square foot building. For more information contact 307 Real Estate.

The next community lunch will be held on February 5, contact the school for RSVP date. There will be a ribbon cutting for the new greenhouse on Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. The new self-defense classes will begin on Monday, January 13.

Next meeting will be February 5 at 7 p.m.

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