New curriculum at Senath-Hornersville

Board member Carl Johnson and Board President Terry Scott review the new curriculum for Senath-Hornersville Schools. Staff photo by George Anderson [Click to enlarge]

The Senath-Hornersville School Board recently approved a new teacher-written curriculum for Communication Arts, Math, and Science, that is to meet the standards set forth by the state.

Tonya Galyean, middle school science teacher, presented the board with the general layout for the new science curriculum.

According to Galyean, the teachers used the grade-level expectations (GLE), as set forth by the state, as the base for the new curriculum.

"[The GLEs] tell us exactly what goals we need to reach at each level," Galyean said.

"We went strictly by the units [the state] gave us, so it was really easy to coordinate our curriculum with the state," Galyean continued.Rebecca Cook, middle school math teacher, presented the new math curriculum to the board, and echoed the statements made by Galyean.

"We took our GLEs straight off of DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). They're broken down in groups and we chose to keep the same units they gave us," Cook said.

Charla Hayes, curriculum director, indicated the Communication Arts (CA) curriculum was given to them by the state.

"Communication Arts is a little bit different because we have Reading First. Reading First is a prescribed program, so we didn't have to write that curriculum," Hayes said.

Prior to the approval of the new curriculum, the principal's gave their reports to the board.

Cynthia Keating, elementary principal, was first to give her report, stating that the elementary had 313 students enrolled and the average daily attendance (ADA) was 96.75 percent.

"I'd like to say that our special ed teacher, the two new first-grade teachers, and our new counselor are doing a great job," Keating said.

Keating also indicated that on Sept. 25, the elementary will be having a MAP party for the students who scored proficient and advanced on the MAP test.

Keating also informed the board of some upcoming events.

On Oct. 2, the elementary will host an open house and dinner for the district's Hispanic children and their parents.

On Oct. 10, the Kindergarten will have a field trip to Pumpkin Hollow.

On Oct. 25, the second-grade will have a field trip to the Memphis Zoo.

Following Keating's report, Chad Morgan, middle school principal, gave his report.

According to Morgan, the middle school has an enrollment of 248 and an ADA of 94.25 percent.

Morgan also spoke again about the B.J. Larsen Court Dedication and Meet the Players Night at 6 p.m. on Sept. 26.

"Our seventh-and-eighth-grade girls' basketball team and then our seventh-and-eighth-grade boys' basketball team will scrimmage that night," Morgan said.

According to Morgan, the Larsen family will be in attendance for the dedication ceremony.

High school principal Kim Campbell followed Morgan with his report.

According to Campbell, the high school has 229 students enrolled and an ADA of approximately 93 percent.

Campbell also informed the board of some upcoming events.

On Oct. 4, Susan Hamrick will host a Pink Princess Beauty Pageant for cancer research.

The high school Coronation will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11.

Following the principal's reports, Superintendent Larry Wood presented his report to the board.

Wood stated that there are currently 787 students enrolled in the school and the ADA is approximately 95 percent.

Wood also said that because of the power outage, all of the contents of the walk-in refrigerator were lost. No estimate was given for the amount of money lost because of the incident.

In other matters, the board:

* Approved the previous meeting's minutes;

* Approved the payment of bills;

* Approved the Missouri School Improvement Program reports on Health and Food Services;

* Approved the addition of Leah McCormick, of Kennett, and April Franks, of Holcomb, Mo., to the substitute teacher list.

* Approved taking bids for a new school bus;

* Approved using Oct. 24, 2008 and Nov. 26, 2008 as make up days for the days missed because of electrical outages.

* Approved setting up a committee for the selection of new playground equipment at the elementary school.

The board closed their meeting with an executive session in which they voted to hire Kim Glover as a Special Education Aide.