At the March 5 Houston School Board meeting, the board gave its blessings to offering a trip to Germany and Austria to take place in June of 2027. The trip was proposed by a German teacher from MNVA, but will be open to students in both MNVA and the onsite school.
Activities planned for the trip include guided cultural tours, an apple strudel baking class, a visit to Neuschwanstein Castle, a bike tour in Münich and alpine hiking. The trip would be a 14-day trip with a five-day stay with a German family for the students. Xperitas was named as the program partner; there will be a tour guide for every six students. All liability will be covered by Xperitas as well as the vetting of the German families for the home stay.
The trip will cost between $4,000 and $4,500; the additional air fare will be between $1,825 and $2,125. Parents are allowed to join the trip, but would stay at a hotel during the home stay. Financial aid is available for low income students.
Hurricane Heroes
Drake, a ninth grade MNVA student, was acknowledged as a Hurricane Hero for his leadership on the K-12 Robotics team. Attending the meeting virtually, Drake explained the challenge given his robotics team last year. The robot needed to push items to certain locations and complete the assignment in the fastest time.
Jeremy Morgan, a science teacher at MNVA, was recognized as a PLC leader and for encouraging students to think critically.
Joslyn Runyan, an instructional coordinator at MNVA for over 20 years, was applauded for running the onboarding process for new teachers and for her ability to diffuse stressful situations.
Tina Barness, MNVA K-8 counselor, was recognized for dedication to supporting the school families and consistently going the extra mile.
Midyear Site Goals Report
Midyear site goals progress were reported for Houston Elementary, Houston Middle School/High School, Summit, MNVA Elementary/Middle School and MNVA High School. Houston Elementary was within one percentage point of their goal of 57% of students meeting or exceeding grade level targets for reading.
Houston Middle School/High School had mixed results so far. The seventh and eighth graders have work to do to exceed their fall reading scores by 2%; the goal is for the entire year, however. The ninth through 11th graders have exceeded their goals thus far.
Summit exceeded their goal of having at least 55% of their students who were at risk demonstrate “notable growth.” Sixty-five percent of those students have shown such growth.
The MNVA Elementary School has not met their site goals at this time, but the staff feels students have been making good progress. The students need to be motivated to try their best on the spring testing. Staff plans to try to improve the testing conditions in the future.
MNVA Middle School students had a goal to have 63.5% in the low risk category; in fact, they had 66% in the low risk category and met their goal.
MNVA High School had a goal to have 70% of the students demonstrate growth in reading from fall to spring.Currently the grade level percentages demonstrating growth range from 42.6% to 50.8%.
Superintendent and Board Goals
The board reviewed Superintendent Mary Morem’s goals mid-year. Her first goal dealt with community service and industry exploration for students. Morem shared that MNVA will be doing service learning the week of MCAs. The elementary will hold a Career Day Fair.
Goal two was to develop a comprehensive hiring memo. Morem wrote one last fall; the school’s lawyer is checking it.
The third goal was about communication and transparency and family communication and engagement. Weekly updates are available for everyone now. Morem has created a plan and shared with the board the action steps involved. The school website will be improved next summer.
Student growth through pathways was the fourth goal. Morem and Michael Mangan detailed the added pathways and the growth of existing ones.
The board discussed when they will work to set board goals. The intent is to set board goals and superintendent goals at the same time. The two sets of goals are intended to complement each other. The board will complete an online survey at an upcoming work session.
Other Business
In other business the board;
- Heard updates on the online school committee meeting; they are making progress with K-12 with workarounds in place and communicating better with the company;
- Heard reports from the student school board representatives on upcoming trips and activities;
- Inquired about expense sharing on the Hard Hat High School project after Nickki Johnson asked about a bill that had charges for both the safe and secure elementary entry and the Hard Hat High School.
Morem said that St. Charles and K-12 would both be sharing such expenses in the future. The invoice will be checked for what portion was paid for the entry and what was for the Hard Hat High School Project.
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