Education Notebook

Rochester schools: Board votes to fund improvements at Longfellow Elementary

The Rochester school board on Tuesday night voted to borrow $500,000 for a $1.5 million gymnasium project at Longfellow Elementary School.

The project includes constructing a new gymnasium, splitting the current gymnasium into a music room and art room, renovating the school kitchen, replacing a boiler, and removing areas that contain asbestos.

The funding for the renovation project involves entering a "lease-purchase agreement and ground lease agreement." The lease-purchase is to be repaid over three years from the ongoing Operating Capital revenue stream.

That was quick - Anti-Rochester public school referendum clip hits YouTube

Well, that was fast.

If Rochester public schools officials were wondering if they would face any political battles in going after a operating levy referendum this fall, they have their answer: Yes.

As I reported earlier today, Rochester public schools are considering putting a levy referendum on this fall's ballot. Granted, the board is going to talk about the matter tonight and hasn't even officially announced that they will go after a levy. Even more, possible levy figures haven't been released yet, either.

This is only a 20 second video -- and it's not as if the production values totaled into the thousands of dollars and hours of time -- but at the very least, the quick timing of its creation shows that at least some people around town are ready to shout down a new levy.

The vid was posted by "RochesterGadfly," who posts as a P-B Commenter as "Rochester_Gadfly."

Here's a link to the video:

Olmsted County judge denies JM student's request for restraining order, reinstatement to band class

(Ed. note: Both stories about this issue are included. Since both are long, I included the print-version links at the top of the page. -EM)

LINK: Judge denies restraining order
LINK: JM student alleges discrimination

Judge denies restraining order in band removal lawsuit

By Elliot Mann
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

An Olmsted District judge has denied a legal request from a 14-year-old John Marshall High School student to return to his freshman band class pending a future decision on an injunction.

Judge Joseph Chase issued his ruling Monday afternoon, and the student will remain in the sophomore band class where the Rochester school district moved him for now.

A hearing on a temporary injunction to reverse the district's decision is scheduled for April 29.

The student and his mother filed a discrimination lawsuit in Olmsted District Court last week against the school district and an assistant principal at JM. The family requested a temporary restraining order so the student could return to his freshman band class while the case was pending, and Chase had a hearing on the request Friday.

The student was reassigned to a different band class while the district investigated a claim that he had inappropriately touched a female student. The student, represented by Rochester attorney James McGeeney, alleges he was discriminated against because of his race and sex.

The complaint seeks more than $50,000 in damages.

Article: Lincoln students: 'MCAs gonna be a good, good test'

Call it a pep rally for test prep.

Students around Minnesota are gearing up for the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment-Series IIs, which are reading, math and science tests used to gauge school performance for the federal No Child Left Behind Law. The state tests are given on specific dates in mid-April through May.

The high stakes tests break down achievement rates by race and economic demographics and are used by the U.S. Department of Education to signify which schools are well performing and which need improvement.

If a school fails to meet No Child Left Behind's Adequate Yearly Progress goals too many times in a row, it could fall victim to restructuring or eventual closure. Those penalties have caused the MCA-IIs to be considered a curse word in some circles. But at Lincoln Choice School, the students and staff are aggressively preparing for the tests.

A 'good, good test'

On Thursday afternoon, students jumped around and yelled as confetti sprinkled the air, sixth-grader Mohamed Mohamoud and hundreds of his classmates sang "MCAs gonna be a good, good test" to the tune of the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling.

This is the fourth year of the "MCA-II Rocktown Tour" by Lincoln students, when students create their own program, along with trash-can drummers, dancing and school orchestra performances.

"It's a high stakes test and it's not something to be anxious about or something to fear," Lincoln Choice Principal James Sonju said, standing on a confetti-speckled gymnasium floor. "We say bring it on."

Lincoln Choice School has made adequate yearly progress each year. In 2008, 85 percent of Lincoln's students tested in math and reading reached proficiency, higher than Rochester's 74 percent proficiency in math and 77 percent in reading overall. Lincoln students brought their show to four different schools this year. Reading and mathematics tests are given in grades three through eight, and also 10 and 11. Science tests are given in three age groups, but they aren't used for Adequate Yearly Progress goals. Smaller schools without diverse populations, low-income and or special education students traditionally fare better on the MCA-II tests.

Of the state’s 50 largest districts, only three made Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks last year. Contrast that with Byron, Mabel-Canton and Spring Grove public schools, three small southeastern Minnesota school districts who have made AYP each year since 2003.

Spring Grove Principal Nancy Gulbranson said there isn't one secret to their success. She credited her teachers and the community's parents.

"We talk of the tests, so [the students] don't have any surprises, but we really just keep our nose to the grindstone," Gulbranson said. "We have very good attendance, you can't teach an empty chair, and I think that helps immensely."

Measuring up relies on group effort

Politically, the tests are a cluster of contention. An entire school district can be listed as not meeting AYP benchmarks if one population doesn't measure up. One example: Spring Grove scored 68 percent proficiency among the 113 students tested in math last year. Rochester scored 74 percent proficiency among 5,259 students test. Spring Grove made AYP, though, and Rochester didn't because of particular populations.

The contention continues on a state level because each state has different tests, which vary in difficulty.
While more of Minnesota's schools are sliding toward "needing improvement" — almost half of the state's 2,303 schools measured were cited in 2009 — a 2007 Fordham Institute study pointed out that Minnesota's standards are more stringent compared to other states.

Critics say the MCA's aren't a true measure of student performance, but others say the MCA-IIs apply accountability to Minnesota's schools. Meanwhile, as adults argue about whether the tests are a true measure of a student's ability though, the tests continue to be rolled out.

Lincoln Choice fourth-grader Camille Lowell received an award last week for her test preparation. She's excited. "I'm really looking forward to [the test]," said 9-year-old Camille.

Two candidates announce intent to run for Rochester school board

Two former candidates for Rochester school board have been spotted at recent board meetings and both confirmed plans to run again this fall.

Michael Resman and Richard Hinds are the two candidates who have already thrown their hats into the ring. Current board members Sandra Soltis, Diane Hermann Blakley, Fred Daly and Mechelle Severson are up for re-election.

Soltis said she is planning on ruling out another run. Hermann Blakley is leaning against running again, Severson said she hasn't ultimately decided but wouldn't be opposed to not running again and Daly has chosen to not disclose his intentions at this time.

Both Resman and Hinds ran for Breanna Bly's seat in 2008, with Resman falling second with 25 percent of the vote and Hinds finishing fifth with about 11 percent of the vote. Bly, who was reelected, received 39 percent.

This time around, Resman will run for the seat currently held by Fred Daly.

Resman in 2008 received the endorsement of the Rochester Education Association and worked for many years with Rochester public schools and has popularity among teachers from his work at the REA negotiating table. (He has since retired.)

Resman, a Quaker, has also grabbed local headlines with his pamphlet, “Special Education as a Spiritual Journey." According to a 2007 P-B story, he believes that that during funerals he has seen the souls of former students ascend to heaven, but he doesn't talk about those experiences while in the school buildings.

"If you were to talk with people in the (school) building, I think they would know that I lead a religious life, but I don’t talk about these experiences there. I think you’d get a variety of reactions, some of which are, “Is this guy nuts?" I mean, that would be a pretty typical reaction, a total rejection of it. Except among my own religious peers, I live a double life," he told a P-B reporter.

Hinds, meanwhile, will run for the seat currently held by Hermann Blakley.

Hinds, who works in respiratory therapy at Mayo Clinic, has said his up-bringing in an underprivileged, single-parent family in North Dakota has given him the desire to run. “Education was virtually all I had," he told the P-B in 2008.

Jeff Kennelly, the only other candidate in 2008 to receive the REA's endorsement, has said he is not interested in running again.

ARTICLES: First year of Rochester ALC full of second chances

(Ed: Here are two articles from Monday's paper about Rochester ALC, in its first year of operation. The students at the alternative learning center are catching up on their education and are dealing with issues like: truancy, substance abuse, homelessness and teen pregnancy. For whatever reason, these articles never appeared online.) These articles are here, still behind our print-only wall. But that is incorrectly marked. These were in Monday's edition. Here they are in full.)

Seventeen-year-old Eddie Espinobarros recalls being a third-grader, missing weeks of school at a time as his alcoholic father refused to bring him to school, instead using the morning to recover from last night's drunken stupor.

Almost a decade later, Espinobarros is still catching up for that lost time.

Espinobarros is a 10th-grader at the Rochester Alternative Learning Center, a secondary school program created this past fall for students who fail to succeed in a traditional school environment.

The school exists inside the cramped quarters of the Golden Hill Education Center, which is also home to the night school diploma program, the ninth-grade bridge transitions program, the Continuing Education Center for expecting teens and teenage parents and also Rochester Alternative Middle School. When those classes end for the day, the program houses night school. Seventy students are enrolled in the 10th through 12th grade ALC program, with 43 students in the 9th-grade bridge program and 36 students in RAMS.

What do YOU think? Is education funding a 'black hole?'

As talk about a possible levy referendum in Rochester ramps up, the opinions are starting to come in about education spending. Rochester resident Dale Stowers wrote a letter to the editor about this, explaining that he feels the looming levy question leaves him in a no-win situation.

I think he poses an interesting question, not only to Rochester residents but also to those living in other communities that are considering a referendum. How does my regular reader respond to this? Here's the letter from Mr. Stowers (which also appears in today's paper:

Regarding the commentary in the Post-Bulletin on Feb. 24 from Rochester art teacher Michael Carson:

I am advised to endorse this school district's current leadership. I am urged to stifle any and all negative opinions regarding such. I am asked to vote for the school levy in spite of my convictions and forego my freedom of speech to express my opinion. I am painted as an enemy of the students of Rochester if Ido not vote yes.

If I vote yes on the school levy, the school board and the overpaid superintendent and cabinet would assume they have my tacit approval of the way things have been run in the past few years. This is not the case, and I will not vote for a school levy to allow the administration to continue the status quo. This is the same old song and dance with a different singer.

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura said it best: "Education in Minnesota is like a black hole that will never ever have enough money."

-Dale Stowers, Rochester

What do YOU think?

Article: Rochester students tally stagnant Stanford standardized test scores (say that five times fast)

Students in Rochester public schools registered stagnant test scores on this year’s Stanford Achievement Test, a popular standardized test given to Rochester’s second through ninth-grade students.

Below is the rest of the story that will appear in Thursday's print edition, as well as a file with all Stanford test results since 2005. This is the story mentioned in Wednesday's story about the five-year plan.

Article: Improvement for Rochester schools might reside within core curriculum

While the Rochester school district has grappled with a five-year plan to help failing students reach proficiency and close achievement gaps, the way to improve state test scores might be to change the district's core curriculum, according to a discussion Tuesday night.

School board members discussed the curriculum during an update of the five-year plan to raise student proficiency. Much of the discussion centered around other items, like current practices going on in schools, continuing to implement interventions, etc.

Below are links to the article and the presentation, and the article is pasted below those:

LINK: Improvement in Rochester schools might sit in core curriculum (article)
LINK: District management plan update (pdf)

Rochester sixth-grader on way to National Spelling Bee

The most difficult words that spelling champions face are often even too difficult for computerized spellcheck, but one Rochester sixth-grade spelling ace spells the old-fashioned way. She painstakingly memorizes them.

Rochester sixth-grader Roshini Asirvatham is on her way to the 83rd National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. 

Hopefully she makes it to the televised rounds, I can remember two years ago when the newsroom was abuzz with anticipation watching Catherine “Cat” Cojocaru overcome words that most of us couldn't pronounce. (Most of us = me.) Congrats to her and all of the spellers for proving that computerized spell check hasn't warped everyone's brains.

Asirvatham is a student at Friedell Middle School and was declared champion of the Southeast Minnesota Spelling Bee after correctly spelling kielbasa, a type of Polish sausage. The regional bee was held on Tuesday, with 64 students from 39 schools throughout southeastern Minnesota competing. The National Bee will be held from May 31 to June 5.

Other notable finishers in the regional bee included:
• Second place: Melissa Brown, an eighth-grader from Rochester Public Schools (John Adams Middle School),
• Third place: Jillian Hanesworth, a seventh-grader from Winona Public Schools,
• Fourth place: Megan Klotz, an eighth-grader from Zumbrota-Mazeppa Public Schools.

Last year, then 14-year-old Laura Galbus of Mantorville competed at the national bee. She was tripped up in the third round on the word “mousseline," which is a sauce or mixture used as a filling for cakes and pastries.

Two years ago, Rochester resident Catherine “Cat” Cojocaru made it deep into the final rounds, ending up in a tie for eighth place out of 288 contestants. By that point, she had correctly spelled: sporangiphore, redoppe, heliophobous and boulangere before finally tripping up on bogatyr — which (we are informed) is a word of Turkish and Russian origin that refers to a group of legendary medieval heroes of Russia.
The Spelling Bee competitions in southeast Minnesota are sponsored and coordinated by the Southeast Service Cooperative and co-sponsored by McNeilus Steel, Inc. and KM Telecom.