by Peg Craig
Contributing Writer
The St. Michael–Albertville School Board met to review election results, consider a proposal by the STMA Knights Dance Team and review the proposed strategic plan for the coming years.
ELECTION CANVASSING
After elections affected government bodies meet to canvas the election.
This means that they acknowledge that the election was legally called and held and they officially declare the winners.
The School Board met and announced that Kari Dwinnell, Hollee Saville and Drew Scherber have been elected to four year terms beginning in January, 2017. Dwinnell and Saville will be new to the board, while Scherber is an incumbent and has been serving as School Board Treasurer.
DANCE TEAM SUPPORT
The board also discussed a request from representatives of the STMA Knights Dance Team asking that the district recognize the dance team as a competitive sport and allocate $12,575 each year to support it.
Currently the dance program has been run through the STMA Community Education department. More than 50 young women in grades seven through 12 have been participating in the program.
Megan Vorgert, spokesperson for the STMA Dance Team parents and coaches said, “We are excited for the opportunity to represent the STMA High School in dance in the Mississippi 8 conference starting in the 2017 competitive season. The new dance program offers high school athletes opportunity to dance competitively, engage in a school sport, live healthy lives and represent their school!”
The funds approved will be used to hire a head coach and a junior varsity coach, pay for transportation to competitions, fees for event participation, music cutting and other supplies.
The Booster Club will raise funds to pay for additional program costs.
The School Board agreed to provide the requested funds for the winter competitive dance program starting in fall 2017. The STMA Community Education will continue to sponsor the fall dance program and support the middle school program.
STRATEGIC PLAN
In further news, the board also looked at the draft of the strategic plan for the district.
Last summer the district hired TeamWorks International to facilitate the planning.
In fall, stakeholders including staff, community members, parents and school board members met with the facilitators to talk about the district. The Core Design Team drawn from these same groups met in October to review the comments and draft an operational plan to guide the district in the next three years.
The mission of District 885 is to provide a safe educational environment where students are encouraged to develop lifelong learning skills which nurture positive attitudes and self-worth, and for STMA graduates to be self-directed learners, purposeful thinkers, effective communicators and responsible citizens.
Ideally the district will have consistently top ranking in academics, arts, activities, athletics and resource management. In addition to serving the students, the district wants to be the pride of the community and strengthen ties to community members.
OTHER NEWS
Lastly, Superintendent Ann-Marie Foucault discussed classroom size for the lower elementary grades.
Albertville Primary School, where all the kindergarten classes are conducted, has class sizes ranging from 20-22 students, just above the target of 20 students per class.
The first grade classes are also slightly higher than the target of 21 with 19-23 per class. Second grade classes are all at or below the target of 22 in each class.
Third and fourth grade classes are slightly above their target size at Fieldstone and Big Woods but part time teachers are available to keep reading and math classes smaller.
The STMA School Board approved a request from representatives of the STMA Knights Dance Team asking that the district recognize the dance team as a competitive sport and allocate $12,575 each year to support it.