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Chatfield School Board members had a busy night on April 16 as the group met for its regular monthly meeting. A main focus during the meeting was discussion on reading curriculum instructional development as new initiatives are being formulated for students who attend Chatfield Public Schools in future years. As reported in previous months, initiatives such as the 100 Book Challenge and the Action 100 program will help the staff develop a teaching frame to better instruct students.

In the elementary school Principal Craig Ihrke stated that Action 100 is not a curriculum, but a staff development model that will be used next year. Action 100, which is a system from the American Reading Company, helps enhance teacher collaboration, and Chatfield hopes to utilize the system to give students an additional “powerful, individualized half-hour of instruction.” Reading specialist Judith Brockway also submitted some insight onto the issue saying that over the summer the school’s library will be undergoing preparations to reinforce the 100 Book Challenge program. Also, the school encourages parent participation. The goal of the district is to have 95% of parents attending events like the parent information night which will be held in late September. The teaching staff will undergo 32 days of job embedded professional development to improve instructional skills.

Secondary Principal Randy Paulson mentioned that the high school is also undergoing developments for the next school year already. The district is adding two more CIS classes through the University of Minnesota: a literature and composition class and physics. Paulson also had many highlights of high school activities to recognize. Both the high school band and choir received superior ratings at the large group contest. Speech team participants had a successful season, and one Chatfield competitor will be advancing onto the state competition. Finally, for the first time in Chatfield history, the Knowledge Bowl team attended the state competition and placed 12th out of 24 teams.

After each of the individual reports, the board members approved the FFA fundraiser “Rough Fish Tournament” for June 16, 2012 to remove undesirable fish from our local rivers. Also, the board approved the food service capital expenditures. Harris mentioned that at the June meeting, the board will have to vote to add a $0.10 increase to student lunch prices for the 2012-2013 school year in order to comply with new federal guidelines. Before the end of the business portion of the meeting, Harris stated that a meeting was to take place on April 17 to discuss combining the Three Rivers and Hiawatha Valley football conferences.

Before adjourning, reminders were noted that April 20 and May 18 would be early dismissals for students due to curriculum mapping, and that the next board meeting would be May 22 at 7:00 pm.