ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Teacher recognition was the top priority for the USD 480 school board at its most recent meeting Monday evening.
The recognition started during the Good Things part of the meeting, during which Liberal High School math teacher Charito Flores was honored as the Educator of the Month. Shortly afterward, more of the district’s 5 C’s winners were recognized, and Monday’s honorees were Brandi Fowler, Stacy Johnson, Dane Parcel, Jessica Graham, and Leo Sena.
After the 5 C’s honorees were announced, Superintendent Stephen Linkous then announced the USD 480 Teachers of the Year, which are Bella Ortiz (Bright Start Early Learning Center), Araceli Rios (Cottonwood Elementary School), Jeri Davidson (MacArthur Elementary School), Kris Classen (Meadowlark Elementary School), Jose Rodriguez (Prairie View Elementary School), Cassidy Zielke (Sunflower Elementary School), Amandria Hartnett (Eisenhower Middle School), Brandon Morgan (Seymour Rogers Middle School), and Caitlin Morgan (Liberal High School). Rios and Hartnett were also named the Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year, respectively.
Before the meeting’s new business, the board also heard a report from Assistant Superintendent of Academics Dr. Maria Gomez-Rocque regarding ACT score trends.
“During a recent pre-board meeting, we were asked to present a report on ACT scores,” Gomez-Rocque said. “The data we have ranges from 2018 through 2023. In 2018, the district’s average score was 18.1, while the state average score was 21.6. In 2019, the district’s average score was 18.2, while the state average score was 21.1. In 2020, the district’s average score was 17.7, while the state average score was 20.4. In 2021, the district’s average score was 17.1, while the state average score was 19.8. In 2022, the district’s average score was 17.7, while the state average score was 19.8. In 2023, the district’s average score was 17, while the state average score was 19.3. There’s definitely been a decline both in the state average and the district average.”
“I thought I had read somewhere how that’s also the trend nationwide, with the average being 21 or somewhere around there,” Board President Alan Brown said. “So I feel like Kansas definitely isn’t the only state seeing this decline.”
“And a lot of colleges have waived the ACT, so there are students who decide to not take the test,” Gomez-Rocque said. “My understanding also is a lot of scholarship applications are also waiving the ACT score requirement, so it makes it difficult to have the students take the test because it’s been waived for those who are going on to college.”
Discussion continued on the ACT scores for several more minutes.
“A sad thing about that is we need to let the students know they have to go to the college for scholarships, that’s where the big scholarship money is,” Brown said. “I believe it’s that 29 to 32 score range where you’re eligible for a full ride academic scholarship. But I’m not sure if we let everyone know how important that is, because a lot of colleges don’t look at your class ranking or GPA, they look at the SAT or ACT scores for that funding.”
The board also talked about taking the test multiple times.
“I know some students who have taken the test multiple times and have done well in one part but not so well in another part, and then they took it again and it flip-flopped,” board member Nick Hatcher said. “But I believe the highest scores are taken from the last test from senior year, that’s what I remember, and I feel like that can skew things a bit. Could that also be a factor in why we’re seeing these numbers?”
“I do think that’s part of the reason, but I think the biggest reason is because colleges, and especially with NCAA eligibility, they no longer require ACT scores,” Gomez-Rocque said. “I think that’s definitely made an impact as time has gone on.”
“So when will the ACT ultimately become a non-factor, period?” Hatcher asked. “Frankly, this doesn’t really tell me anything as far as what’s happening in the classroom.”
“I think a main goal of the ACT is to see how college and career-ready a student is according to the national standard,” Linkous said. “This is telling us our average score might not be college and career-ready for a four-year university.”
Discussion continued for several minutes, with factors such as test prep and transportation to test sites coming into play before concluding.
The agenda’s new business was taken care of rather quickly with the board beginning by unanimously approving Payment Application No. 7 which consists of Change Order No. 5 for the LHS parking lot replacement project in the amount of $42,433.80 as well as a quote from Johnson Controls in the amount of $16,934 to furnish and install high power mass notification speakers to be integrated into the MacArthur Elementary School fire alarm/emergency annunciation system. The board also unanimously approved payment of payment application No. 2 to Osborne Construction in the amount of $564,657.34 for the LHS Auditorium rain screen project and a quote for 12 Microsoft Surface Pros w/ keyboard and pen from CDWG in the amount of $19,320 for Instructional Coaches. To conclude the meeting’s new business, the board heard information regarding the replacement of Variquest machines and a first draft of a setup for the streaming equipment for board meetings.
