JACKSON TEACHERS WORRY ABOUT INADEQUATE CLASSROOM PREPARATION

JACKSON -- A committee representing kindergarten and elementary school teachers in the Jackson School District told the Jackson School Board they need more time to plan and prepare for daily classes.

The committee presented a report to the board at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

The board also received the 1994 Missouri Mastery and Achievement Test (MMAT) scores from tests given in April, and adopted a tentative budget for the new school year.

Bonnie Knowlan, an elementary school teacher, said she and her peers in grades K-6 now have an average of 32 minutes daily or 192 minutes per week, to plan and prepare for six lessons each day.

She said at least 250 minutes per week is recommended.

In addition, Knowlan said teachers spend two to three hours a week grading papers, "and that does not include weekend work," she added.

"We also make at least three to five telephone calls per day to parents of our students for various reasons. In addition to extra projects, grading of papers and preparing report cards, which must all be done by hand, it does not leave much time for us to prepare and plan for our classroom lessons."

Howard Lewis, another elementary teacher, presented some suggested options for the board to consider. They included the hiring of additional elementary counselors, a librarian, an additional reading resource teacher to assist classroom teachers, and an extra person to gather resources for math and science classes.

Lewis said kindergarten teachers would benefit from clerical aides or parental volunteers to help in the classroom.

School Superintendent Wayne Maupin said the district would need to add at least three new positions to provide the elementary teachers the additional time they need for classroom preparation.

"We already know we need additional counselors and a librarian at the elementary level," he said.

Board member, Jack Knowlan Jr., who is married to Bonnie Knowlan, said the need for more staff to give classroom teachers additional release time has long been a concern of the board.

But Maupin said with the addition of several classroom teachers this fall, "We are not in a financial position right now for any additional staff."

Maupin said the administration is reviewing teacher duty schedule assignments and the possible use of volunteers, such as parents, to help classroom teachers.

Knowlan said lowering the class size in the elementary grades would help. In the interim, he suggested a volunteer program or clerical aides.

Maupin said that will be among several board goals that will be discussed at the board's July meeting.

Assistant School Superintendent Fred Jones presented a preliminary report on the school district's MMAT that was given in grades 2-10 earlier this spring.

Students are tested on their mastery of state-defined key skills in language arts, math, science, and social studies.

Jones said the Jackson student test scores, on the whole, continued to be at, or well above the state average.

"Overall, we did a good job. Some areas were better than others," he said. "For example, in eighth grade math and tenth grade science, the scores were down over 25 points from the year before."

The board adopted a tentative 1994-95 budget totaling $12.9 million. Business Manager Howard Alexander emphasized the budget is only a tentative one, designed to allow the district to begin the new school year on July 1.

In other business, the superintendent said the high school home economics class is looking for a new site for its child development laboratory.

Because sections of first grade are moving into the primary annex this fall, the home economics class is losing its space in the annex.

Maupin also reported the administration will meet June 22 with two architects to begin discussions on long-range building options for the board to consider. This is a result of the board's special meeting held May 31.

In other business, the board approved a contract with Coca-Cola Bottling Company for a new scoreboard for the R.O. Hawkins Junior High School gym.