BOARD MEMBERS DROP MEMBERSHIP IN NCA

JACKSON -- Instead of duplicating its evaluation tools, the Jackson School District would like to focus more on educating its students.

With the similarities between the North Central Association and Missouri School Improvement Program evaluations, the administration spends more time working on reports than on teaching, said Superintendent Dr. Howard Jones.

The Board of Education withdrew membership in the North Central Association Tuesday night. Board members approved a positive motion to reject any recommendations to continue membership.

"We believe that it's been an important part of the quality of education but feel like it's not as important to us now," Jones said.

The scales didn't balance between the work put into the accreditation reports for the North Central Association and the Missouri School Improvement Program and the outcome for the school district.

"It's like chasing your tail," said Vernon Huck, high school principal. "In a review year for MSIP and North Central, you are evaluated and tested so much that you lose track of the things you need to be doing -- teaching."

Both evaluation methods required separate reports and fell during the same year. The MSIP team arrives in January 1997 and preliminary reports are due in November. The preliminary reports for the North Central evaluation would have been due in mid-October.

"It's so similar that it's very redundant," Huck said. He would have prepared separate reports for the two evaluations, although they generally study the same programs within the district.

The NCA focuses more on individual curriculum than the MSIP evaluation, Huck said.

The Missouri School Improvement Program is a mandatory evaluation of school districts in the state.

As part of its Missouri School Board Association policy review, the school board updated its student discipline policies to bring them in line with the new regulations under the Safe Schools Act.

The policies outline specific offenses and the punishment that can be given for each offense. They will be distributed to parents, teachers and students in early October.

With the updated policy, building principals are given a range of punishments to use for each offense. "They can customize the code of discipline so the Middle School would be different from the High School," said Fred Jones, assistant superintendent.