Lorenz discusses summer school sessions

The Red Oak School Board has agreed to a proposal that would scale back summer school classes.
Red Oak Schools superintendent Ron Lorenz advised the board that due to dwindling participation rates and sunsetting of ESSER funds, the administrative team was proposing scaling back the summer school program to balance available resources and anticipated student needs and interest.
“We really had some robust programs in then last few years since COVID, but every year, we’re seeing fewer and fewer kids take advantage of it,” commented Lorenz.
Rather than offering two three-week open sessions, Lorenz said the district was proposing offering two two-week intervention sessions for students on an invitational basis.
“These sessions would take place during the second and third full weeks of June, June 12 through 22, and the second and third full weeks of July, July 10 through 20. Elementary intervention sessions would run Monday through Thursday, from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Secondary credit recovery sessions would run Monday through Thursday, from 8 to 11 a.m. Lunch would also be served on a daily basis,” advised Lorenz.
Intervention sessions at the elementary school would focus on skill building in the areas of literacy, writing, math, and science. Secondary sessions would focus on credit recovery as needed. Students would be invited or encouraged to attend based on Title I or Special Education entitlement, chronic absenteeism, and 7-12 grade course failures.
“While inviting students that are habitually absent seems counterintuitive, Principal Jane Chaillie pointed out that those kids tend to come to summer classes more regularly than normal classes. Don’t ask me to explain that; I don’t know why,” Lorenz commented.
Lorenz also proposed hosting kindergarten and preschool Jump Start Sessions.
“This is a means to evaluate students prior to grouping them. We will put them into different classes, which has been really successful. Kindergarten Jump Start would take place Aug. 7 through 8. We would offer both a morning and afternoon cohort. Preschool Jump Start would take place at the Red Oak Early Childhood Center on Aug. 15 through 16,” Lorenz stated.
In terms of compensation, Lorenz recommended offering teachers $25 per hour of student contact and one hour of instructional planning as well as a $400 per week stipend to be paid using Title I and remaining ESSER funds. This equates to $43 to $45 per hour for teachers. Paraprofessionals would be paid their regular hourly rate.
“We’re hoping this will help incentivise the teachers to participate, and we’re optimistic that since this will be for a shorter span, there will be more interest by the teachers in participating,” said Lorenz.
The board approved the updated summer school plan as presented.
The board also discussed the 2023-24 concurrent enrollment courses and career and technical education programs with Southwestern Community College.
While it was something the district did every year, Lorenz was excited about adding some new career pathways and concurrent enrollment courses.
“I think these are going to do good things for our kids. The new pathways we’re talking about are an internet technology systems networking, a criminal justice pathway, an early childhood education pathway, and most of those lead to a certain certification or credential in those different courses. Most of those courses will be offered remotely through video conferencing. Early childhood education will be online, and the criminal justice courses will be a mix of face-to-face online,” stated Lorenz.
Also proposed was a sports officiating offering. While it didn’t lead to a certificate, it did help the kids prepare to take the officiating exam, and provided other benefits.
“It also exposes kids that might be interested in participating in youth sports. Given the lack of officials there are right now, we’re trying to take the grow your own approach.”
Courses to be dropped were fundamentals of oral communication due to SWCC no longer offering the course. Public speaking was still available. Also to be dropped was anatomy and physiology, as it did not align with SWCC’s nursing pathway.
The board approved the 2023-24 concurrent enrollment courses and career and technical education programs with Southwestern Community College.
The board also approved a reduction to the teacher leadership and compensation plan. The TLC proposed a plan that would scale back the current program by roughly $100,000. The committee endorsed reducing six instructional lead positions, two assessment leads, one intervention lead, three mentors, and eliminating two interventionists entirely, around a 40% decrease in positions. Also endorsed was reducing the current TLC stipends by 20%.
Lorenz said the program was created following regulations from the Iowa Department of Education, and the rules had changed.
“Last year, we started looking at the program and found a lot of the stipends were twice the amount we were paying some of our other supplemental contracts. It didn’t feel right, and it didn’t look right, so the committee acknowledged that and agreed we needed to scale it back. We still think it’s valuable, but we need better equity.”
In other business, the board:
• Approved the 2023-24 student handbook.
• Approved the renewal of the Infinite Campus student information system for the 2023-24 school year, at a cost of $26,763.  
• Approved the hire of Charles Hollis as English language arts teacher and yearbook sponsor at the junior/senior high school for the 2023-24 school year.
• Approved the hire of Bevin Anderzohn as senior high school fall play director for the 2023-24 school yea and the hire of Alec Ruskell as senior high school assistant softball coach for the 2022-23 school year.
• Approved the resignation of Nevada Meis as special education teacher and middle school volleyball coach at Inman Elementary effective and the resignation of Darla Olinger as math teacher and activity supervisor at the junior/senior high school, both effective at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
Approved the resignation of Bevin Anderzohn as senior high school fall play assistant director effective at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
• Approved the resignation of Weston Rolenc as senior high school assistant girls basketball coach effective at the end of the 2022-23 school year.