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FD School Board Receives Improvement Committee Update - from The Messenger

November 12, 2019

The Fort Dodge Community School District Board of Education was informed of a district policy change regarding lock outs on Monday evening.

The School Improvement Advisory Committee, led by Steph Anderson and Kirsten Doebel, the directors of elementary and secondary education for the district, met last week and discussed a series of issues.

The SIAC is comprised of district administrators, teachers, parents, board members and members of the community.

One of the issues the SIAC discussed was the confusion that has come up between “lock down” and “lock out” in the schools.

“We just brought up our changes in school safety, we talked a little bit about the situations that have happened in the last couple months within the schools and how we as a school district have been reflecting on that and what changes we can make, and the one big change that we made was to change ‘lock out’ to ‘secure the perimeter’ instead,” Anderson said.

Previously, a “lock out” was a response schools made to safety threats outside the school building. During a lock out, inside the building classes and activities go on as normal, but no one is allowed to enter or exit the building. Anderson said this has led to confusion with lock downs, which would be a response to a threat inside the building where the regular school day ceases and students and teachers lock their classroom doors and hide until the threat is over.

Anderson said that “secure the perimeter” is a clearer way to communicate what is happening in the schools in those situations.

Another major item the SIAC discussed was the results of the 2019 Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress. While the district’s individual scores were not available at the time of the meeting, the committee was able to discuss more general results.

“Across the state, the scores did go down,” Anderson said.

She said that is understandable as the spring 2019 ISASP tests were the first using a new model.

“It’s one piece of data and really helping our teachers and our community and our students know that this is one snapshot of how we’re doing as a district,” she said.

Iowa schools and students will demonstrate growth in knowledge and skills in the coming years, Anderson added.

The students’ individual assessments will be mailed out to parents and families on Friday.

The committee also discussed the plan from Superintendent Jesse Ulrich to move the fifth grade down to the elementary school level, and Doebel said the committee had good feedback on that plan.

Later in the meeting, school board president Stu Cochrane signed a proclamation naming Nov. 18 through Nov. 22 American Education Week.

The next school board meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Nov. 25 at the Fort Dodge Middle School Auditorium. Regular board meetings are always open to the public.

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