In what was a lengthy and sometimes tense meeting, the Perry County Board of Education decided and approved many things on June 29.
The most substantial of which was the approval of Amplify for teacher resources, mainly in Eanglish and Language Arts.
“This is materials that the teachers use to help teach our local curriculum,” Perryville Elementary School Principal Jane Narrow said.
Narrow said that the main reason for the change and search for these resources is based on low test scores in the Annual Performance report.
“It is not what any of us wanted to see,” Narrow said. “We are owning it and looking directly at these numbers and we want to improve them.”
Narrow discussed LETRS as a way to learn the “science of reading” to learn how students best learn reading skills, Amplify is a knowledge building program to help the students learn through research.
“Amplify uses the language comprehension strand and the word recognition strand, and when you weave those things together it makes the student a better reader.” Narrow said. “We want the students to be able to decode any word we put in front of them and read fluently. They have to have that background knowledge to understand what they are reading.”
There are some thoughts that Amplify uses its research to send the wrong message to kids, however, Narrow and Perryville Primary Center Principal Emily Koenig reinforced that the teachers have the right not to use any particular research if they feel it is not right for the students.
Board member Glendon Sattler felt that it would be good if the parents formed a group to also review these materials in the same manner.
“I think parents should have the opportunity to see what their kids are being taught as well,” he said.
However, many felt like Narrow, Koenig and others have done their due diligence when researching Amplify.
“You aren’t going to find many parents who have the time to sit down and put as much time and effort into this as our teachers have,” one board member said.
The board approved the measure with Sattler voting against.
“It’s not that I don’t trust the teachers,” he said. “It’s that I would like the parents to be a part of the learning process as well.”
In other news and approved measures:
Amended the 2022-23 school year budget to actual.
Approved the Transfer of General Funds, in the amount of $5,852,447.90, to the Teacher’s Fund.
Approved the General Fund Transfer of 932,476, or 7% x SAT x WADA, to the Capital Outlay Fund.
