District Sets Second Town Hall Meeting, Saves on Insurance Consultant

Town Hall Meeting

Superintendent Eric Knost announced the date for the district's next town hall meeting. More than , which was held in October. At the meeting, residents can ask questions and share opinions about district issues.

The next town hall meeting will be Jan. 19 at at 7 p.m.

Board Calls Special Meeting to Form Goals

The board adjusted the , and scheduled a meeting for Jan. 7 at 9:30 a.m. in the to finalize their 2011-2012 goals.

Board Secretary Elaine Powers will compile the board members’ input on the topics they wanted the goals to center around and will write out preliminary goals. Originally, Knost was tasked with reading the input and forming goals for the board to adjust and consider in January.

The board switched the duty because “it reduces the likelihood that they’re Eric’s goals and not our goals,” Powers said at Thursday’s meeting.

Board Unanimously Passes Amended School Improvement Plan

The district rehashed its improvement plan to include more specific and measureable goals.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education creates a Missouri School Improvement Plan that mandates all districts implement their own improvement plan.

Mehlville passed a five-year Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) in Dec. 2010, but reviews and revises the plan annually, Knost said.

The plan is divided into five overarching goals of student performance, a highly-qualified staff, facilities, parent and community involvement and governance. Each goal has targets with specific district actions.

Assistant Superintendent of School Supervision Lisa Counts presented the revised improvement plan, which included a different way of measuring the district’s targets and vision points.

Every member of the board complimented the new plan, especially compared to the former one.

“There were a lot of placeholder statements (in the old plan) that we just state as a belief and those have been removed,” Felton said. “I really like the way the measurements read, it makes it read a lot better, it gives you better context.”

Progress in the plan is now measured in three categories of Readiness (research, committees, plan development), Action (pilot, adjusting and student impact) and Implementation.

“We thought that it made it a little more descriptive to see how we are measuring ourselves and how we are holding ourselves accountable in each step of the processes,” Counts said.

The plan includes goals such as technology adoption with a number of action steps. These steps, like , can now be checked off with the new progress categories.

“I think a level of work is obvious… it’s clear to see where you’ve changed things and added things. One thing I like is the addition of some more specific measures, particularly in the area of student achievement,” Powers said.

Powers was referring to parts in the plan that used to say only, “improve literacy,” and now has more specific targets such as improving literacy with a target to “increase elementary student reading proficiency by 10 percent.”

Other targets included in the plan are:

• Use videos to communicate district programs and services to the rest of the community
• Increase number of students scoring proficient on Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests and End of Course exams by 3 percent
• Develop a performance-based teacher evaluation to monitor performance of district teachers

Read the full improvement plan on the district website.

District Contracts with Insurance Consultant, Saves $85,000 Annually

The district will save approximately $85,000 a year by switching insurance consultants.

The consultant will be used to develop the district’s insurance rates and monitor the costs within the self-insured medical and dental programs, Chief Financial Officer Noel Knobloch said.

The district is currently paying CBIZ Insurance Services $140,000 a year for consulting on a commission-based structure. The three-year contract is up Dec. 31, so the district collected bids from other companies.

The board unanimously selected J.W. Terrill Benefits Services for a three-year contract, paying a $55,000 annual fixed fee.

Twelve companies bid to consult the district ranging from $175,000 to $30,000 a year. Knobloch said J.W. Terrill Benefits Services was selected based on their office structure, experience, similar customers and costs.