1/23/2021 11:07:00 AM Northland School Board: Academic Support for Students in Second Semester
By Kyndra Johnson of the Press-Citizen
Northland Principal Mary Yakibchuk shared the administrations plan for academic support, for students in grades 7 - 12, during the second semester at the regular board meeting on Thurs., Jan. 21. With the second quarter and first semester ending Fri., Jan. 22 plans to better support struggling students are being implemented during the second semester.
Yakibchuk mentioned a lot of students have been struggling during the first half of the year with keeping up with school work while distance learning. Students began receiving peer tutoring right before Christmas break through Community Ed. It was mentioned that this program is going very well, with as many as 20 students signing up for the program. Other options that will be offered during the second semester are:
• AVID class providing additional academic support and tutoring.
• Indian Education providing academic support and tutoring.
• 7th period academic intervention hour where students can receive academic support and tutoring with a licensed teacher.
• Providing additional academic support and tutoring from 2:15 - 3:15 by appointment.
• Providing athletes academic after school and before practice support.
• Offering Asynchronous Credit Recovery in core classes.
There was a request to approve an additional four credit recovery teaching position in english, math, social studies and science for the second semester. It was stated that this position would be for students who failed that course and need to make up the class in order to receive credit for it to graduate. This position would be for a licensed teacher in a core class and would be paid for through money the school has received due to COVID-19 so it would not come out of the current budget. The board approved this motion unanimously.
Another item brought before the board was to approve starting a co-op with Hill City for softball in the spring. This item was approved after explanation from Athletic Director, Max Torgerson and board member Bill Wake, who serves on the co-op committee. Torgerson shared that a survey was sent out to high school girls to inquire their interest in playing this spring. The response was low in numbers and looks like Northland would struggle to have enough girls to form a varsity team. Wake stated one thing that is looked at when considering co-oping with another school is participation numbers. If a school does not have enough students to form a varsity team then co-oping with another school is the best option in order to continue to offer the activity. This co-op would only be approved for two years and then re-evaluated.
In other Board action:
• Approved the Resolution for Northland Early Childhood Collaborative.
• Accepted the resignation of David Kitchenhoff as bus driver effective Jan. 5.
• Approved an additional 6.75 hour per day para-professional position to be filled through the end of the school year. This position will be paid with COVID-19 grant money.
• Approved resolution directing administrators to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions.
The board has scheduled the following meetings: the Community Ed Advisory committee, Wed., Feb. 3 at 5:30 p.m. via zoom, a work session, Thurs., Feb. 4 at 5:30 p.m., meet and confer committee, Wed., Feb. 10 at 3:45 p.m. and the regular meeting, Thurs. Feb. 18 at 5:30 p.m. all meetings are held at Northland High School.
