Notes From Rock Hill School Board's August Work Session

The Rock Hill School Board met on Monday, August 9, 2010 for the regularly scheduled Work Session. My meeting highlights are:

• Northside Elementary School of the Arts, Rawlinson Road Middle School, and Northwestern High School gave individualized presentations on what their schools are doing to improve state test scores by using assessments. Teachers are working together to help develop more meaningful test questions as well as questions which more correctly apply to the standards. They are also evaluating student performance and getting remediation or accelerated learning for the appropriate students.
• The Board reviewed changes to Policy KHE - particularly as it applies to politicians. The proposed policy can be viewed by clicking here. Items in red are proposed changes. A side item which came out of the discussion is how much control, or whether there should be any control over groups which raise money for our schools and programs.
• The Board discussed changes to policy GBEBDA, Criminal Background Checks, which has mostly been required by recent legislation.
• The District announced they would be reviewing a possible switch to contracting out some or all benefit services.
• The District reported that the federal government had mandated an increase in adult lunch prices. The Board expressed a desire to leave lunch prices as they are currently. The administration will seek a legal opinion to see if this can be done. Another item which came up - Why Do School Districts Have To Pay Sales Tax On School Lunches?