BOS Meeting Minutes Sept 11th 2013

BOS Meeting Minutes Sept. 19th 2013

Science exam results mixed in Monadnock Region schools

By KAITLIN MULHERE Sentinel Staff

Local scores from May’s state science exam were a mixed bag, with some districts improving and others seeing their scores drop.
The results of the New England Common Assessment Program’s 2013 science test were released last week.

The test quizzes students in 4th, 8th and 11th grades on earth and space science, physical science, life science and inquiry, or scientific thinking. Unlike the reading and math assessment tests, which are taken in October, the science test is given to students in May.

State scores dropped slightly in 2013, the sixth year the of the science portion of NECAP testing. The percentage of 11th-graders across the state who scored proficient or better dropped from 33 percent to 30 percent. Fifty-one percent of 4th-graders reached the proficient benchmark, compared with 53 percent last year, and the 8th-grade results held steady, with just over 31 percent of students scoring proficient or better.

Locally, the results were more varied.

Symonds School in Keene saw one of the biggest jumps, with the percentage of proficient 4th-graders rising from 57 percent to 75 percent. That increase helped pull up the district's overall elementary science scores from 54 percent to 59 percent proficient, despite little, if any, growth at the district's four other elementary schools.

Eighth-graders in Keene improved from 26 percent to 32 percent proficient.

But many districts in the Monadnock Region didn't see much, if any, improvement. The percentage of proficient 4th-graders fell in the Conval, Monadnock, Fall Mountain and Winchester districts. Eighth-grade scores fell in Hinsdale, Fall Mountain and Winchester.

The NECAP scores are based on four levels: proficient with distinction, proficient, partially proficient and substantially below proficient. Most area districts didn't have any students score in the proficient with distinction category.

At Hinsdale High School, the percentage of proficient juniors dropped significantly two years in a row. In 2010-11, 46 percent met the mark. That number fell to 35 percent in 2011-12 and then to 19 percent last year.

Hinsdale Superintendent David A. Crisafulli said the district knows it didn't perform well in science, but staff members are just starting to delve into the data to see exactly where students underperformed and where teachers should focus their efforts.

Part of improving will probably mean reminding the high schoolers that while the scores don't affect their transcripts or graduation credits, they do reflect on the school, and so the tests should be taken seriously, Crisafulli said.

Scores also dropped at Fall Mountain Regional High School, from 41 percent proficient or better last year to 31 percent this year.

The other four high schools in the Monadnock Region saw improvements:

* At Conant High School, 35 percent scored proficient or better, compared with 22 percent last year.

* At Conval Regional High School, 34 scored proficient or better, up from 25 percent last year.

* At Monadnock Regional High School, 29 scored proficient, up from 28 percent proficient last year.

* At Keene High School, 38 percent of juniors scored proficient or better, compared with 35 percent last year.

The science NECAP scores come at a time of much change for standardized testing in New Hampshire. Districts are in the process of updating curriculum to meet new grade-level standards called the Common Core State Standards, and as a result the NECAP tests will be replaced by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Test. That test begins in spring 2015.

* For the full results and scores from individual schools, go to http://reporting.measuredprogress.org/nhprofile/

Kaitlin Mulhere can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or kmulhere@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMulhereKS.

Same old story in Winchester, no matter how much money is spent, the results are always the same ...

Changes made to Winchester program after canoeing incident

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — Better communication with the local police department is among the changes being made to a summer program for school-age children in Winchester after a canoeing trip went wrong last month.
Winchester police Officer Mike T. Tollett said that at a meeting Monday, school officials went over with parents what happened that led to three children becoming separated from the group they were canoeing with on the Ashuelot River Aug. 15. The children were enrolled in the ACCESS program, the Winchester School District’s after-school program, which also runs activities in the summer.

“What it basically came down to was a lack of communication between the parties involved in the outing that day,” Tollett said.

Not everyone had walkie-talkies or other means of communication to determine the location of everyone on the river once the group became separated, he said. The group also didn’t stay together like it was supposed to, he said.

The children, who were between the ages of 7 and 10, were rescued by firefighters after beaching their canoe on the side of the river. No one was injured.

“It’s really unfortunate and incredibly unacceptable that this happened,” ACCESS Director Jeremy S. Miller said Wednesday.

The program has offered the canoe trip for the past seven years, and until August, never had an incident, he said.

The students on the canoe trip were studying root systems, and had put their canoes in the river by the Coombs Bridge, he said.

There were four canoes in all, with a counselor from ACCESS in the lead canoe, and the 4-H leader coordinating the day trip in the last canoe, Miller said. He declined to provide the name of the counselor and leader.

Before putting their canoes in the river, the leader, who has been running the trip for ACCESS for the past seven years, gave the students a one-hour tutorial on canoeing, paddling and safety, Miller said. She also went over what they should do if they became separated from the group, and where to beach their canoes if they got tired, he said.

Each student wore a double-knotted life vest, he said.

The three canoes went ahead of the leader on the windy section of river, he said. She eventually caught up with them, but on the way back, the group became separated, he said.

The students paddling one of the canoes got tired and beached the vessel near one of the suggested spots, where the 4-H leader later met them.

The other adult got out of eyesight and earshot from children in the other canoe and called 911, he said.

Meanwhile, those children had pulled their canoe over to the river embankment, got out, and sat along the shoreline, Miller said. They were sitting on their life vests in an attempt to stay dry when firefighters found them, he said.

“No one was in the water or on an island,” Miller said.

The adult no longer works for ACCESS, he said. He didn’t specify further if the person left or was fired.

To make sure an incident like this doesn’t happen again, all ACCESS counselors will have walkie-talkies while on trips, and certain students will be trained to use them in case something happens to one of the adults, Miller said.

Trip plans will be filed with the Winchester Police Department from now on, and will include the beginning and end locations; times students and counselors are expected at those locations; the number of students on the trip; names of the trip chaperones and their contact information; Miller’s name and contact information; and the make and model of vehicles used on the trip, he said.

In addition, information about the next day’s activities and trips at ACCESS will be sent home to parents the night before, he said.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Only 4 canoes, these "adults" were incompetent and should never be allowed to supervise children again. What if there had been more canoes and children on the river that day? Would they all have been so lucky ?
And typical when things like this happen, blame it on the kids involved .. 

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Questions remain about Winchester water rescue

By ALYSSA DANDREA Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — For Cory T. Nichols of Swanzey, Aug. 15 began like any other, but would take an unexpected turn on his drive to work at Winchester Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
Nichols, 35, said he saw a police officer near the railroad tracks about a mile from Kelly Farm. A firefighter was also there, in his personal vehicle parked on the side of the road.

“As I started to drive around the truck, you could hear screaming and (the firefighter) started yelling into the woods, saying, ‘I’m coming. I’m coming,’ ” Nichols recalled.

Upon hearing the call for help, Nichols parked his truck and ran into the woods. By the time he caught up to the firefighter, they had both reached a moat, with a 6-foot drop into the murky water below.

“We both jumped in,” Nichols said. “We then swam to an island where three young children were standing.”

The firefighter questioned the kids, who were standing with a canoe and said they were too tired to keep paddling, so they pulled off onto the island, Nichols said.

More than three weeks after firefighters rescued the three children — who were between the ages of 7 and 10 — questions remain about how they got separated from their group while canoeing on the Ashuelot River.

Winchester’s emergency personnel and the local educators who run the out-of-school program for students in grades K-8, are expected to meet to discuss the incident. A date for the meeting has not yet been set, according to Winchester Police Chief Gary A. Phillips.

Winchester Fire Chief Barry D. Kellom said the meeting will be an opportunity for everyone to learn more about what happened that day on the river, as well as how to prevent such an event from happening again.

ACCESS, or All Children, Cared for, Educated, Supported, and Successful, ran the canoe trip the children were on. The program provides learning opportunities for children, parents and community members in partnership with University of New Hampshire’s Cooperative Extension and Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, according to its website. Activities are usually offered during the school year; however this year, Winchester ACCESS operated a summer program.

ACCESS Director Jeremy S. Miller, who oversees the program’s activities, did not return multiple phone messages left by The Sentinel seeking comment.

Parents who contacted The Sentinel shortly after the incident declined to comment on the record.

Nichols helped bring the children from the island, across the water and back to shore. They later joined the rest of the ACCESS group, which had made it to Kelly Farm, Nichols said.

“I was appalled at the fact that they were alone. I really don’t understand how this could have happened.”

And now the question becomes how to make sure it never happens again.

Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1435, or adandrea@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @ADandreaKS.