The State Board of Education met on December 16 in Jefferson City; following is a recap of that meeting.

The State Board dealt with an unusual request this month. The New Madrid County Commission presented a formal request to the State Board to establish a new school district within that county. This rarely used process is authorized under state law (Section 162.171). This plan called for the creation of a new K-8 district that would include part of the territory of the existing New Madrid County R-I School District, which is a K-12 district.

In our view, the proposed reorganization plan did not include some key pieces of information about the potential viability of the proposed district. As a result, the State Board voted to reject the plan and return it to the New Madrid County Commission, which may choose to amend and resubmit the plan for further review.

If this type of reorganization plan is approved by the State Board of Education, then it must be voted upon and approved by residents of the affected districts.

Charter schools have been in operation in Missouri for five years, and the first schools that were established are now approaching the end of their initial charter agreements with their local sponsors. In most cases, the initial charter agreements were for five years. As a result, we expect to be reviewing the extension of charters for several schools during the current school year.

At this month’s meeting, we reviewed two charter schools in Kansas City, but the circumstances of the two schools are quite different.

The University Academy began offering a college-preparatory program in 2000-01. It currently serves grades 8-12 but plans to expand to grades K-12 next year and move into a new building. This school is sponsored by the University of Missouri-Kansas City. UMKC has already reviewed its charter agreement with the University Academy and agreed to extend the school’s charter for 10 years. Because this charter school’s application complies with the requirements of state law and has already been approved by the local sponsor (UMKC), the State Board of Education is not required to take any action to authorize the extension of the charter.

In a separate action, the State Board voted to deny a request that we become the sponsor of the Westport Community Secondary Academy in Kansas City. This program (a middle school and a high school) began operating in 1999-2000 under the sponsorship of the Kansas City School District. This past summer, the school district rejected a request to extend the charter of the Westport schools. As a result, the district resumed operation of the schools. There was a protracted court fight over this school’s charter agreement, but the courts ultimately upheld the school district’s authority to reject the extension of Westport’s charter.

Under state law, a charter school that is rejected by local sponsors (either a university or the local school district) may appeal to the State Board of Education and request that the State Board act as its sponsor. This is the request that we considered this month from the former operators of the Westport Academy. Due to numerous and significant deficiencies in the school’s application, we rejected the request.

The Board approved several revisions in current regulations regarding teacher certification, including some important changes in the requirements for new principals and other administrators. All of these changes grow out of a recent change in state law and our continuing efforts to streamline and simplify statewide certification requirements.

Some of the key revisions approved by the Board include:

The Board also approved several changes in the requirements for administrator certification. The proposed changes in this area generated numerous comments from the field, both pro and con. The Board reviewed all of these comments and made several changes in the policy to reflect suggestions made by various individuals and organizations. The final regulation approved by the Board includes these key provisions:

The Board heard an excellent report from staff members of Ritenour High School, St. Louis County, which is one of 19 Missouri high schools participating in the "High Schools That Work" initiative with the support of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. High Schools That Work is a nationwide project developed and supported by the Southern Regional Education Board. Missouri has participated in the program for three years. Ritenour High School was recently honored at the national level for achieving significant gains in academic performance over the past two years.

High Schools That Work provides a framework of goals, key practices and key conditions that focus on accelerating learning and setting higher standards to improve the way high school students are prepared for work and further education. This project also targets students who are seldom challenged to meet higher academic standards.

There are many different models and approaches to school reform. No single model or program is right for every school or every community. The High Schools That Work program appears to be "a good fit" for Ritenour High School, and it is producing positive results. The commitment and the determination of the principal and staff were evident in this report. It requires extensive professional development, collaboration by the staff, patience and consistent support from the administration – and the board – for any reform effort such as this to take root and prove its worth.

The State Board of Education learns a great deal from "case studies" such as this report from Ritenour High School. We appreciate the time the administration and faculty members spent preparing the report and coming to Jefferson City to share their experience with us.

As you may know, there is strong and growing interest at the national level (and the state level) in the topic of "high school reform." President Bush, the National Governors Association, business leaders and professional education organizations are all focusing on this topic. Next month, we will hear a status report from a state-level "High School Task Force," appointed earlier this year by Commissioner King that is working on recommendations regarding Missouri’s existing high school standards. We expect to receive a formal report and recommendations from this panel by next spring.

On Thursday evening, we hosted the annual banquet at which we honor the new Teacher of the Year and the state-level finalists in this program. Congratulations to Linda Eisinger, a third-grade teacher in the Jefferson City School District, who will now represent Missouri in the 2005 National Teacher of the Year program. We also recognized five other outstanding teachers who were finalists in this year’s program:

We are grateful to the Boeing Co., of St. Louis, for providing the primary financial support for the Teacher of the Year program.

Enclosed is a holiday greeting card to you and your colleagues, on behalf of the State Board of Education and me. I want to thank Lindsay Pruitt, a junior at Truman High School in Independence, for contributing the photo on the front of this card. Thanks also to Lindsay’s teacher, Babette Poston, and the printing staff at the Missouri School for the Deaf.

The next meeting of the State Board of Education will be January 20 in Jefferson City.

Sincerely,

Thomas R. Davis
President