Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
With communication lines open, representatives of School District 55 and People Involved in Education, which operates Sweet Home Charter School expressed their thanks to each other Monday night for the cooperative nature of their relationship.
The warmer relations are a turn from the tense relationship between the District 55 and PIE boards during the formation of the Charter School more than two years ago. Since then, district officials had been critical of PIE’s slow compliance when asked for information.
On Monday, District 55 Supt. Larry Horton complimented Sweet Home Charter School Principal Scott Richards, who took over the school last year. He said Richards is a strong addition to the school, “and he has smoothed a lot of questions that were in existence last year.”
He also credited PIE Board Secretary Sherrie Ingram.
“I want to publicly say how much I appreciate both of them,”
The one comment he would make, said Lloyd Braunberger, a member of the PIE Board, “is how much I appreciate this board, your willingness to work with us, the gives and the takes. I really appreciate it, the rapport with this board.”
“There will be problems,” Horton said, but communication has been and will be the key to solving them.
The comments came following a short agenda in which Horton shared the district’s new Strategic Plan with the PIE Board.
Richards shared results from the school’s Iowa Test of Basic Skills results in two areas, reading comprehension and math computation, out of 15 measured by the test.
For most grade levels, the tests showed average gains of more than nine months, a single school year, from the school’s first year to its second, which just ended. Fifth-grade math showed only five months improvement, while fourth-grade math showed 20 months and the second grade showed 13 in reading and 12 in math.
The credit for the performance of the fourth-grade class goes to the teacher, Richards said. “She’s a phenomenal teacher. I give her all the credit.”
The two organizations also held a brief discussion about PIE’s meeting agendas and meetings.
The charter school includes kindergarten through fifth grades. For lack of space, the school will not add a sixth grade next school year, its third year. The contract for the Charter School will be up for renewal next summer