Enrollment at the Fayette school district is up slightly from that of a year ago. Current tallies were revealed at Wednesday’s regular monthly meeting of Fayette’s Board of Education.

The board also agreed to the purchase of 50 more Chromebooks for the district, authorized the hiring of an additional special education teacher, and made two changes to the district-wide calendar.

Total enrollment for the district is 655 students, up seven from last year. That number includes pre-Kindergarten students. “This would be considered an average change from year to year,” Superintendent Brent Doolin wrote in his report to the board.

It was also noted that three or four more students are expected to enroll soon.

Elementary enrollment totals 287, not including 43 students in pre-K. That amount is down from 293 a year ago. The middle school saw an increase from 134 last school year to 144 this year. This year, 191 students are enrolled in the high school, up from 189 a year ago.

The reason for the drop in enrollment at Daly Elementary School and a rise at Clark Middle School was attributed to a large class that moved from fifth grade last year to sixth grade this year.

School board members granted unanimous approval to hire an additional special education teacher. The number of students in the district’s special education program continues to increase. Melissa Duren, the district’s SPED Process Coordinator, told the board that the program is working with 12 more students than last year, and more are coming.

“Our numbers keep increasing,” Duren said.

She attributed much of the increase to students who have already been identified as those in need of special education assistance transferring into the Fayette district.

Superintendent Doolin said the biggest concern with regard to special education is class size at the middle school. “The need is definitely there.”

Doolin said he built the position into his budget, for which there will be a budget amendment to approve in October. “I think it’s doable and sustainable,” he said.

The board also approved the purchase of 50 more Chromebooks from CDW. The Board of Education, in a special meeting on August 3, 2020, voted to purchase 375 of the devices. Chromebooks are used by students in grades Kindergarten through high school as part of the district’s one-to-one initiative for daily lessons and assignments. They can also be used for remote learning in the event school must be closed for issues involving illness or bad weather.

The reason for the purchase is to replace broken Chromebooks and to meet higher enrollment. 

“We’ll be back to where when one gets checked in to get fixed or worked on, there is one available to swap in and out,” Doolin explained. “And we’ll have enough for everybody again.”

The cost for the new Chromebooks totals $10,886.26. They are expected to arrive by October 4.

The board approved two changes to the district calendar during Wednesday’s meeting. The first is meant to address the demand to listen to the Fayette High School band perform at the annual Missouri Music Educators Association’s (MMEA) conference at the Lake of the Ozarks on Friday, January 27, 2023. Only seven bands throughout the state of Missouri are selected each year to perform at the prestigious event.

“We already have 11 teachers put in for a sub to go support the band that day,” Doolin said. “We don’t have 11 subs that can pull off a day of school.”

Fayette operates on a four-day week schedule, in which school in session Tuesdays through Friday. The board approved Doolin’s suggestion that the four school days that week be adjusted to Monday through Thursday, January 23-26, 2023, instead of Tuesday through Friday, January 24-27. Having that Friday off, rather than the usual Monday, would accommodate those who wish to see the band perform.

It has not been decided if Falcon Club, a special program put in place for students on Mondays, will operate on Friday, January 27.

The other calendar change involves switching parent-teacher conferences originally scheduled for Monday, February 27, 2023, to Monday, February 13. The reason for the change is to put the parent-teacher conference closer to the end of the third-quarter midterm when grades go out.

The board also approved a resolution for Daly Elementary principal Cheri Huster to apply to be a part of Success-Ready Students Network System Design Zone.  

Huster worked with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) Success-Ready Students Work Group (SRSWG) last school year.

DESE is now looking at alternative metrics to gauge student and teacher success, rather than just MAP testing. 

According to DESE, the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) is a standardized test designed to measure how well students acquire the skills and knowledge described in the Missouri Learning Standards (MLS). The assessments yield information on academic achievement at the student, class, school, district, and state levels.

“DESE is talking about looking at competency-based education, which is standards-based education, but not just looking at academic standards, but looking at also real-world opportunities,” Huster told the board.

The Success-Ready Students Network (SRSN), in collaboration with DESE, came about as a direct result of recommendations made by the Success-Ready Students Work Group (SRSWG), Huster explained.

If approved, Daly Elementary could be a prototype school for the new system design. This could mean that Daly students could be granted a waiver to forgo MAP testing.

“Why I’m excited is because I finally feel like I could have a seat at the table to talk about…one MAP test at the end of the year should not tell us how the student does,” Huster said. “Our school based on one assessment is not good for the kids.”

The SRSN is a collaborative initiative connecting the Missouri public school community, Huster explained. It is committed to supporting public schools in building the capacity of stakeholders to understand and use a competency-based mindset to personalize learning in ways that ensure every student has the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need to be high school, college, career, and workplace ready.

The SRSN is launching two Innovation Zones: the System Design Zone (SDZ) and Innovative Learning Design Zone (ILDZ). Fayette is applying for the System Design Zone.

“They are wanting to come up with a different system,” Doolin said. “This gives us a way to influence and have a say in how it looks.”

Fayette’s Board of Education meets regularly at 6:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday every month except for July. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 19. Meetings are open, and the public is invited.