The BVHS Concert Band plays at the 2023 graduation ceremony. Photo by Carly Winchell.
Program Evaluations the Agenda for the BV Board of Education
The Buena Vista (BV) Board of Education (BoE) reviewed and evaluated a number of programs during their Monday, April 8 meeting. In addition to the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD), also called the English Language Learner (ELL) program, the Board heard reports and evaluations on the Special Education (SPED), Title 1 Reading Intervention, Gifted and Talented (GT), Activities, and Technology programs.
Slides with information on each program are available in the EL 7 Reports Special Programs slideshow, which can be found online here.
Below is a breakdown of the information presented on the different departments during the meeting. A more in depth look at the ELL program is available in Ark Valley Voice‘s previous story.
Special Education (SPED)
As of December 1, 2023, there were 136 students in the Buena Vista School District (BVSD) receiving SPED services. This number has decreased from 148 for the previous year.
The students were distributed as follows: 11 at The Grove, 64 at Avery Parsons Elementary, 33 at the Buena Vista Middle School (BVMS), 24 at the Buena Vista High School (BVHS), and four at Chaffee County High School (CCHS).
The district employs 10 SPED teachers, 12 paraprofessionals, one speech-language pathologist (SLP) and SLP assistant, and a contracted occupational therapist, and physical therapist, with a full-time paraprofessional. The district also works with a BOCES SPED Coordinator and SPED Director.
Teachers have received various professional learning opportunities focused on dyslexia, trauma-informed care, and autism training among other topics.
Resources for parents of SPED students are available on the Mountain BOCES website here.
Gifted and Talented (GT)
40 students in the BVSD are currently on an active Advanced Learning Plan (ALP). Seven attend Avery Parsons, 16 at BVMS, and 17 at BVHS. Caroline Kerby serves as the GT coordinator for kindergarten through seventh-grade and Diane Look is the GT coordinator for eighth through twelfth-grade.
Newly enrolled third through eighth-grade students are screened and other students are screened when referred to the program.
The GT program hopes to continue to develop self-advocacy in students and focuses on meeting each child’s needs in the regular classroom. In elementary and middle school, the program focuses on enrichment activities while the BVHS program focuses on college and career.
The program hopes to expand services by bringing co-teaching to middle school and offering enrichment opportunities at all levels.
“Our vision is that students will freely and willingly collaborate with students of different life and ability levels,” explained Yates, who said that many gifted students can struggle with anxiety or with more social situations.
Title 1 Reading Intervention
The Title 1 program has two full-time and two part-time interventionists, utilizing one teacher’s assistant. At the midpoint of the year, there are 134 students in pullout interventions, comprising 33 percent of the school. This is a 2 percent change from the same time in the previous year and a 17.5 percent increase from the beginning of the year.
Staff explained that this increase from the beginning to the middle of the year is usual and there is typically a decrease by the end of the year.
Teachers recently shifted to the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment to identify students in need of interventions.
31 students are enrolled in reading intervention classes. Fifteen sixth-graders show an overall 4.3 years of reading gain with a 69 Words Per Minute (WPM) fluency gain. Eight seventh-graders show 3.3 years and 76 WPM gains while eight eighth-graders show 3.3 years and 102 WPM gains.
BVMS Principal John Emilsson, presenting on behalf of BVMS English Language Arts (ELA) Teacher Misty Cronsell, said another highlight was that less than half of the sixth-graders from last year needed reading intervention classes this year.
According to the update, the program intends to continue to practice oral fluency with seventh graders, adding it to the sixth-grade program as well. For eight-graders, who Emilsson explained get fatigued by the program, they intend to transition to a Reading/Academic Support program to reduce that fatigue.
Athletics and Activities
For BVHS, there are 162 student-athletes and 213 students involved in activities (such as band, choir, drama, etc.) out of a student population of 259. More students are participating in three or more athletic activities than in previous years. Additionally, sixth-graders were allowed to run cross country, which boosted numbers from previous years.
This year all varsity teams reached the postseason competition. A funding drive is currently ongoing to improve the school’s track. The efforts are one percent of the way toward the school’s fundraising goal. Focus areas for athletics include maintaining a “culture of character” and supporting student engagement with multiple activities.
Technology
A full presentation on the technology program was delivered at a previous BoE meeting. Some goals of the program are to purchase more student devices, upgrade digital display boards at Avery Parsons, ensure sufficient help desk support for all levels, and work with the District Accountability Committee (DAC) to monitor guidelines for Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Visual Arts
The program evaluation highlighted visual arts as a place for students to establish strong connections, including students who may be struggling academically. Yates said the program is meeting a broad spectrum of needs for various students.
The program hopes to maintain current staffing levels and return to a full-time art teacher at elementary. Currently, the elementary art teacher is assisting with math fluency. The program also hopes to purchase updated technology for high school arts and increase funds to the program.
BVSD choir singing “We Shall Overcome” and leading the chorus with all students. Image courtesy of the Buena Vista School District
Performing Arts
As of the meeting date, the evaluation of the Performing Arts program had not been completed. Yates explained that the program seeks to help students develop talents and skills that will serve them throughout their lives while widening their world, considering others’ perspectives, experiencing joy, and intrinsic motivation.
“I love this idea of experiencing joy and intrinsic motivation,” said Yates. “That we have classes that are built and thinking about the richness that our students have when they get to have joyful experiences, and Tanner, Marty, and our Elementary music program certainly have a focus on doing that.”
Other Board Business
The Board also conducted agenda planning, appointed Director Paula Dylan to serve as the alternate for the Board of Cooperative Educational Service (BOCES), and unanimously approved the agreements with Watershed and the district related to the preschool project and authorization for the Superintendent to act on behalf of the Board on that project.
For more information on what’s happening in the Buena Vista School District this month, community members can read the April BV Monthly. The BV Monthly newsletter includes a superintendent letter, BV and What’s in the news, event announcements, and other information about the district. It is available to read on the school’s website.
The consent agenda, including the March Financial report, was approved unanimously. Superintendent Lisa Yates also presented the EL 7 – Curriculum and Instruction Monitoring Report. The full written report is available here.
Yates cited the presentations and evaluations of district programs from the evening’s meeting as evidence that the school is complying with this policy.
The Monday, April 8 Board of Education meeting agenda and packet link is also available online.
The next regular meeting of the BV BoE is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 22. It will be preceded by a 5:00 p.m. study session “with Principals” according to the April 8 agenda.
While no official Board actions are conducted during Study Sessions and there is no community participation, community members are welcome to attend to learn more about the district.
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