In addition to Coach Drew O’Connell and the North Ridge Girls Basketball Team being honored for their state second place finish, North Ridge Middle School principal Ms. Brooks expressed some good news about student academic performance during Wednesday (March 15th) night’s Danville District 118 Board meeting. Based upon the results of last year’s state testing, North Ridge has been upgraded by the state from a “targeted” school to a “commendable” school. Brooks explains what that means.
AUDIO: Our kids did an amazing job. So we skipped at least two levels. We went from targeted, to comprehensive, to commendable. So we’re in testing mode right now, and hopefully we’ll do just as well this year as we did last year. We had some areas that we needed to clean up; and we had to get our math scores up, and we had to get some of our reading scores up.
Also during the District 118 Board meeting, a contract with Smekens Education based in Warren, Indiana was renewed. Ms. Brooks says they do fine work, using props and other accelerators helping students develop writing skills.
AUDIO: A program developed by Christina Smekens. She has developed a way to create a writing that’s fun for kids. We use all types of things just to help them get the idea from their head to the paper.
Also at the meeting, four positions were approved for the District 118 Special Education Department: a Board Certified Behavior Interventionist, a Registered Behavior Technician, a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant, and a Special Education Coordinator. Director of Special Education Molly Bailey says this is a matter of teachers getting the help they need, so they can focus on the teaching.
AUDIO: We want to make sure that there are behavior supports for students, which also helps staff. Staff needs tools in their tool kit; they need, you know, people who help them. Sometimes just the teacher can’t do it all.
Bailey says the idea is creating an environment in special education that includes the needed support, to prevent teachers from leaving out of frustration or burn out.
