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PAINESDALE - Superintendent Tim Keteri addressed the Adams Township School Board at its regular October meeting Wednesday, saying that according to the recent MSTEP test scores, there are many positive takeaways.
"I don't get crazy one way or the other," he said regarding test scores, "because there's ebbs and flows. You have to be careful with saying 'Oh, look how everything is fixed.
"We can be happy that things are going in the right direction," he said, "and hopefully they continue that way."
Overall, he said the district scored above the state average in several categories, though he did not know how the school district scored compared to other school districts locally.
"But, increasing scores and showing growth is always a good thing," Keteri said, "and that's what's been happening, especially through COVID with all the learning loss."
In regard to learning loss, Keteri did mention the state's 98-C funding.
According to a Sept. 1, 2022 memorandum from the state, Section 98c appropriates $52,056,000 in federal funding to address learning loss as part of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund and part of the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) II Fund. Local education agencies have until Nov. 30, 2022 to apply for funding. Eligible entities must include the following in their application:
• An assurance that no later than October 30, 2022, at a public meeting of the board of a local education agency (LEAs), a presentation is provided on how funding received under section 98c will be used to address learning loss.
• A link to the plan to address learning loss that is posted on the LEAs website and an assurance to post updates to the plan on the LEAs website.
• A brief description of the district metrics to be used to determine the impact of the district's funded initiatives.
"We have to take a look at this," Keteri said.
One area of focus he indicated is science. The school's texts books are outdated and in a digital world everything is online.
"I think we need to take a slow step back and take a look at text books, and there are other ways of learning," said Keteri. "I think maybe if we upgrade that K-12, with this funding available, it might be a nice way to start looking at a little different avenue of how students learn."
Keteri took the approach that a textbook is also a remote tool, that can be used at home when school is closed which, he said, is equally valuable to a computer in terms of trying to learn.
Hopefully, he told the board, the state will approve the school's plan. He budgeted $35,000 to the project. Textbooks, he said, have gotten expensive.
"We'll just have to look at that budget and see where we're at," he said. "We put a lot of money aside for supplies and similar purchases, so there is room to maneuver."