Benny Westcott
At the Sweet Home School District’s Dec. 13 board meeting, certified employees union leader Steve Thorpe predicted that teachers in the district would be appreciative of the upcoming two-week holiday break, as they have been working to navigate successfully through a challenging semester during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are running into staffing issues. We are short-staffed,” said Thorpe. “I think it’s commonplace in our state, but my concern is here at Sweet Home.”
“I think that we are going to need some help. I don’t know where that’s going to come from or what it is going to look like,” Thorpe continued. “We have some people that are considering leaving this profession.”
He went on to say that classified and certified teachers are “working very hard right now.” Of the teaching profession, he said “You don’t just go to this as a job. It’s a ministry. It’s a calling.”
He spoke of how the number of available substitute teachers is lower than it normally is, and how teachers have to try to find their own substitute when they can’t make it to class.
“I don’t think they should have to do that,” Thorpe said. “Some people are having to change their doctor’s appointments. You shouldn’t have to cancel because you can’t get a cover.”
“I think we are going to have to start getting creative,” he told the board. “Another six months teaching online and in person, dealing with sickness and quarantines, I think that’s going to take a toll. I’m not one to complain, but I think we need to make sure we are in front of it.”
“Four days and counting until winter break. That’s kind of where we’re at,” he said with a chuckle. He spoke of how his athletes on the high school wrestling team “reset” by doing “four seconds of breathing in, four seconds of holding and four seconds of exhaling” and said that he hopes the upcoming break will provide a similar reset for the district’s teachers because “they are working very hard. And when you get tired you get frustrated with some things.”
He suggested that the district perhaps work to hire permanent substitutes who could float through the district, or conduct a survey asking teachers for their input on how the board could help them.
He said his coworkers’ true colors have shone through during the pandemic. “In hard times peoples’ character is exposed,” he said. “And the character and integrity I’ve seen in some people is just outstanding.”
The board voted unanimously to approve the purchase of books and services from Scholastic Books not to exceed $300,000 for the district’s K-8 students.
The purchase was inspired by a tour of 17 classrooms in the district conducted by Director of Teaching and Learning Barbi Riggs, who heard feedback from teachers that their classroom libraries were “skimpy” or “lacking” or “didn’t have any books.”
The plan would put 500 books in each K-8 classroom in the district. The students would have input into what books were chosen. As part of the program, each student would also be able to take a total of 10 books home from the classroom library to keep for themselves as part of “take home packets” (five books in the winter and five in the spring).
District Business Manager Kevin Strong emphasized that the project will utilize some of the $800,000 the district received from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), that must be spent on addressing learning loss.
“Our plan is to help students using those funds,” Strong said. “We are trying to use the funds as they were intended.”
By an 8-1 vote, with Jason Van Eck as the sole dissenter, the board approved purchasing the service of Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready, an online assessment and instruction software that helps teachers aid students in achieving proficiency in reading and mathematics. The cost would be $60,185 per year for a three-year plan, totaling $180,555, with the specification that the purchase would not exceed $300,000 if the school pursues obtaining other i-Ready products.
“It will help teachers help their students,” Barbi Riggs said of iReady, which will be used for students K-12.
“With it, we can assess children in many areas, and find out if they need more enrichment or need interventions in place to help them be successful. This will help every student in our district.”
She noted that training will be needed to familiarize teachers with iReady, but that such services “come with the package.”
The purchase of iReady will also be funded through ESSER.
In other news, the board:
— Approved the hire of Summer Anderson, temporary kindergarten teacher at Foster, effective when TSPC license is issued.
— Accepted resignation from Matthew Montrose, science teacher at the high school, effective Jan. 31, 2022.
— Approved an out-of-state field trip for the high school cheerleaders to compete at the USA Spirit Nationals in California, from Feb. 24-28, 2022.