Bessemer Area School Board discusses safety grant

BESSEMER - The Bessemer Area School District Board of Education held it's November meeting on Monday night, which included a presentation about the first grade class, as well as discussion on the superintendent's evaluation and contract and a competitive safety grant program.

Teacher presentation

Emily Stafford and Jonelle France started the meeting with a presentation about Bessemer's first-graders.

The presentation included activities the students have done in the past month or so, including Main Character Pumpkins and books, the Veterans Day Wall of Stars and Turkeys. These activities are family projects that the children got to bring home and work on with their families.

The Wall of Stars give information about a family member or friend who is a veteran, "to get the kids talking about these things with their families," France said.

The stars were then used to decorate the Legion for veterans events held their, she said. These stars have been sent to the USO in the past and they "have gotten thank yous," France said. She hopes this will continue.

The high school kids have also been a big influence on the first-graders. The Key Club has had reading time with them and during homecoming, the athletes did a walk through and even signed autographs, France said.

"This has become such a big tradition at our school," France said. "They think of them as professionals."

France also described some community in the classroom events, including fire safety week and a visit from someone at the HOPE Animal Shelter.

Stafford also described the Writing using Technology program the first-graders are participating in. This includes such things as writing and drawing, as well as creating videos for their parents. This month, the children did "I am thankful" art work and created videos saying what they were thankful for.

At the end of the year, the videos will be compiled and given to the parents.

Superintendent Dave Radovich said this is part of blended learning taking place in all schools, which brings technology into classwork.

"We're going to start seeing more and more of this in classrooms," he said.

Superintendent evaluation

The meeting continued with a report from Personnel Committee Chairperson, Sheri Graham about the superintendent's review scores.

The board had reviewed Radovich as superintendent and gave him an overall score of 4.22 out of 5. According to Graham, this means that he "exceeded expectations."

"I've never seen scores like this before," said board member Al Gaiss. "I'm extremely impressed with these results from a seven-person, diverse board."

The board also approved to extend Ravovich's contract for another two years. His current contract is set to expire on June 30, 2015.

"I appreciate the confidence. I appreciate the trust," said Radovich.

Other business

The December board meeting has ben moved to Dec. 15 at 6:30 p.m.

The board also tabled the adoption of the 2014-2015 Crisis Plan until the December meeting.

They also approved overnight trips for the Jr. high Quiz Bowl team, high school Quiz Bowl team and high school honors band.

There was also discussion surrounding snow days and activity cancelations. The board agreed to let the superintendent and athletic director have discretion when deciding to allow or not allow night activities on a snow day, and Radovich said that he will work on regulations for such instances.

Radovich also said the school is pursuing money though the safety grant program. The state has set aside $4.5 million in a competitive grant, to support safety upgrades at schools.

Bessemer has had a walk through done to determine safety, and did not fare well.

If the school is selected, the grant funding could be used for cameras, intercom updates, after-school security and more, Radovich said.

The grant application is due by Jan. 9, 2015 and if Bessemer is selected, updates would take place from March through September 2015.

The board also heard administrative reports.