Approximately 20 people attended the Sept. 14 meeting of the Snowflake Unified School District Governing Board. The primary interest was a proposal made by Expect More Arizona representative Jennifer Hernandez. The goal of Expect More Arizona is to formally unify community leaders, schools and legislators in an effort to improve the efficiency of educational systems within the state.
Using an Education Progress Meter, key areas of improvement have been identified, with goals of attainment for 2030. As outlined by Hernandez, the most urgent need is to have highly qualified teachers in classrooms. One of the steps to hiring qualified educators is to offer higher salaries. At the moment, Arizona ranks 50th in the nation on teacher salaries. The goal is to raise teacher pay from a median of $43,474 to the national median salary of $55,800 by 2022.
Other goals include a 34 percent increase in early learning settings for 3- and 4-year-old children.
It is hoped that there will also be a 31 percent increase in the number of students who score proficient or highly proficient on the AzMERIT English language assessment. The improvement goal for eighth grade math students is 33 percent.
Because “the success of every child is vital to our state’s economic prosperity, quality of life and civic health,” Expect More Arizona is hoping to improve graduation rates from high school from 78 percent to 90 percent, and graduation from secondary schools by 18 percent.
In addition to increases in academic success, Hernandez explained that Expect More Arizona is also working to improve communication between the public and legislators. She said that often the public is not aware of who it is who actually works on education law. The state does provide an interactive, Request to Speak, which allows citizens to virtually participate in committee. More information is available at apps.azleg.gov.
Business leaders are especially encouraged to step up to strengthen school systems so that they have a qualified and educated pool from which to hire graduates.
When asked if the Snowflake District would be making a formal alliance with Expect More Arizona, Superintendent Hollis Merrell said whether they were formally or informally allied, both entities have the same goals.
More information about Expect More Arizona is available online at expectmorearizona.org.
In other business, the board:
* Awarded a contract to Gordion Group for the installation, licensing and certification for a fueling station at a cost of approximately $58,000. The new system will include installing a card reader to track fuel consumption and a fuel overflow meter to eliminate spills; and increased security, lighting and cameras. The district will assume the responsibility of building an awning to help preserve equipment.
* Accepted the resignations of Haley Haggard as a Snowflake Junior High School instructional aide and Kelsey Smith as a Taylor Elementary school preschool aide.
* Approved the hiring of Jenna Tanner as an SJHS instructional aide and Sherry Williams as a Snowflake High School instructional aide.
* Approved volunteers Shon Flake as a long term suspension hearing officer, and Lauralyn Scott as an assistant and goalie soccer coach.
* Held the first reading of two policy revisions recommended by the Arizona School Boards Association.
* Approved a policy regarding personal time off for school employees. Employees are entitled to 40 hours of sick leave annually. Any unused hours will roll over, but the cap will remain at 40 hours. Unused vacation hours may be transferred to the employee time bank. This bank allows colleagues in need to use stored hours when their own sick time has been used.
* Approved Nancy Moses Cobb as an occupational therapist for students and Cheryl Barnes to provide vision services.
* Approved a memorandum of understanding between the district and the Coder Camp High School Transitional Program.
