Special Meeting

The Board of Education held a special meeting on Friday, August 28, at 5:00. We met with Paul Getto of the Kansas Association of School Boards, in regard to board policy. The meeting lasted until a little after eight o'clock. Policy review is a never ending process and your board was very engaged in this process. We will have probably a couple more meetings with Mr. Getto as well as meeting amongst ourselves to decide what policies need to be added, deleted, and/or updated.

Philosophy of Education

This Monday our teachers will report to work and before they are turned over to their respective Principals I will have a short address and most of it will involve my philosophy of education. Sometimes I think we look for complicated answers when simplicity is best, and this goes for education also, but anyway here are the highlights.

TEACHING IS THE ONE PROFESSION THAT MAKES ALL OTHER PROFESSIONS POSSIBLE.

Student Learning is our business.

What we teach matters but what they learn matters more.

What Works-Works--What doesn't Work-Doesn't Work

Working hard at things that don't work won't make them work.

If they don't learn the way you teach-Then teach the way they learn.

Three Critical Questions to ask Yourself about Teaching

1. What do I want them to learn?

2. How do I know if they have learned it?

3. What do we do if they haven't learned it?

RETEACH-But use different methodology

Einstein said: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results.

We need to prepare students for their future-Not our past.

Classroom Management is the most important thing in your room.

Classroom rules: Respect

Responsibility

Readiness

Students can remember these and almost all problems fall into these categories.

How do students learn:

10% What they read

20% What they hear

30% What they see

50% What they see and hear

70% What is discussed with others

80% What is experienced personally

90% What they teach someone else

How do you teach?

If knowledge creates problems-It is not through ignorance that we can solve them.

That is it in a nutshell if you agree or disagree with what is said above feel free to comment on it.

5 Key Academic Skills

As we get ready for a new school year, the greatest predictor of success is to get off to a good start. As usual communication is a key component for success, parents talking to students, students talking to teachers, parents talking to teachers, teachers talking to administrators, parents talking to administrators, students talking to administrators may not be an indicator of success. So here is the list of 5 things that will help your student:

1. Organization

2. Time Management

3. Prioritization

4. Concentration

5. Motivation

We wish each and every student at Pleasanton to have a GREAT YEAR.

Summary of the August Board Meeting

The meeting started off with the approval of the budget for the fiscal year of 2009-2010. Like most schools our budget is less than it has been, but it is workable. We did raise the local option budget by 2.6 mills which means that if your home is worth $100,000 your taxes will raise $28 next year. A home valued at $65,000 will see an increase of $18 for the year.

The board then approved EMC to be our insurance carrier for the next school year. We are fortunate to have an agent in town that carries this insurance, since the recent school disasters more and more companies are choosing not to insure schools. We also accepted Hiland's bid to provide milk for the district for the 2009-10 school year. We also will join the KASB Legal Fund this was one of our original cutbacks but as the start of school gets closer my feet got cold in regard to not having their advice available to us. We will be doing a policy review with KASB on August 28, 2009. Hazel Wood was hired as our Pre-School teacher.

If you have any questions or want to leave a comment please feel free to do so.

August Board of Education Meeting

The August Board of Education Meeting for USD 344 will be Monday, August 10, 2009, at the Board of Education meeting room in the annex. The itinerary will be as follows:

Budget Hearing for 2009-2010 School year

Adjourn

Regular Meeting

Call to Order

Additions to Agenda

Approval of Agenda

Approval of Minutes

Visitor forum

Principal Report

Superintendent Report

Business, Discussion, and Action Items

1. EMC Insurance

2. Dairy Bid

3. KASB Legal Fund

4. KASB Policy Review

5. Executive Session

6. Adjournment