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Board considers more online education


With opening day just weeks away, the Mobridge-Pollock School Board Monday, Aug. 10, discussed a wide range of topics from class size to expanding the use of online education.
The board convened at the Pollock Community Center, Superintendent Tim Frederick led the conversation on topics that concern the district now and in the future.
Telling the group the teacher shortage is a reality they will be facing for years, Frederick explained it might be time to expand the use of online classes. He said South Dakota Virtual Schools offers a variety of classes to help prepare students for college and careers. He said tapping the outside online resources will give Mobridge-Pollock students an advantage in getting ready for their lives after high school.  Frederick said he has encouraged students and parents to look at the option with the focus on what the students will gain from taking the courses.
“If they take a course in their field of interest online and decide it is not what they want to do before they go to college, they save time and money,” he said. “It is exciting for us to be able to give our kids the advantage to move on to career or college.”
He said some districts arebeing forced into expanding online classes because of the teacher shortage, but for now, Mobridge-Pollock can use the courses to prepare students for taking the dual courses for college credit.
“Maybe we can use this as our pilot year,” said Frederick. “We have the salary of the math teacher built into the budget and we have the dual credit courses.”
Board member Jay Shillingstad pointed out that the courses will also prepare the students for taking the Smarter Balance tests as they follow the same format as the online courses, giving students practice on the computer.
The board decided this was something that needs to be discussed with parents and patrons of the district to supply information and sell them on the merits of the program.

Kindergarten
Frederick told the board there are two large classes (24 students each) of kindergarten this year and a small class of seven students in junior kindergarten. He said Elementary Principal Jill Olson plans to meet with the three kindergarten teachers to discuss the options of dealing with this problem. He said having two larger classes and one with so few students “is a bit hard to swallow.”
He said the student numbers could change before school opens as in just one day (Monday) he had received eight open-enrollment applications.
Board member Jane Looyenga said having 24 kindergarteners in one classroom is way too many. But she told the board she would be against any changes to the junior kindergarten program at this time.
“We worked too hard to get it established,” she said. “Can we bring on another teacher this late in the year?”
Frederick said they could advertise at anytime and that there would be money in the budget and a classroom available.
Shillingstad asked if there was a possibility of changing junior kindergarten to a half day and using the third teacher to help the others in the afternoon.
The board decided to listen to what the teachers and Olson recommend before moving forward with any further decisions.

Later start date
Frederick also led the board in a discussion concerning a later start date for the fall semester. He said he recently attended the Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD) meetings and he talked to other superintendents, principals and school board members about earlier start dates.
“There was a lot of conversation about changing the start date to after Labor Day,” he said. “If we decide to change it, we are going to have to get people adjusted to the change.”
He told the board Mobridge-Pollock parents and students are functioning as if school were starting next week, instead of Aug. 24. He said the later start date has not changed their preparations, but if all schools started after Labor Day, the district will need to help change the habits of the students and parents.

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