District on pace to meet three goals

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The Jamestown Public School District is on pace to meet three goals it set last fall, said Bob Toso, superintendent, at Monday’s Jamestown Public School Board meeting.

The three goals were reducing the drop-out rate, creating a safe, healthy and welcoming environment and increasing math and reading achievement, Toso said.

“Obviously you can’t do everything people identify, but we have done quite a bit,” he said.

To combat the drop-out rate, block scheduling will be in place for freshmen students at Jamestown High School who are recommended by guidance councilors, he said. Block scheduling will reduce the number of classes students take and make the classes longer, offering reduced sizes, less homework and more support, Toso said.

Board Member Greg Allen said that 50 percent of students in Los Angeles drop out of high school and that rate increased with the No Child Left Behind Act. Allen said there needs to be a balance between rigorous studies and relationships with the students.

“We have to hit on student achievement but we don’t want to lose the fact that we have to have positive relationships with the kids,” Toso said.

Currently North Dakota has one of the highest graduation rates in the United States, but Toso said it could be better.

“We have to do a lot better for our country’s sake,” he said.

Students are not re-quired to join an extracurricular activity, but the district wants to change that, Toso said.

Toward creating a safe, healthy and welcoming environment for students, the district added a police officer and school psychiatrist, he said, and each elementary school will also have a full-time principal.

Toso credited improvement in math and reading to curriculum improvements and staff training.

In other news, Ann Hoggarth, School Board member, told the board that she accepted a job offer in Minot and will be leaving the Jamestown School Board at the end of the month. Roy Musland, School Board president, and Toso thanked Hoggarth for the three years she served on the board.

Toso said the administration’s policy when a board member resigns is to leave the space open for two to four weeks, after which interested applicants can then apply with Sally Ost, business manager for the district. The School Board whittles the candidates down to three and then the board votes on the replacement, who would hold the position until the June elections.

The board also approved the hiring of David Muhs as the boys’ soccer coach.

Activity Director Jim Roaldson recommended Muhs, former assistant boys’ soccer coach, for the job.

Sun reporter Ben Rodgers can be reached at 701-952-8455

or by e-mail at brodgers@jamestownsun.com

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