West Carroll School Board Talks About State Report Card

ATWOOD (January 9) — West Carroll School Board met Thursday evening, Jan. 9, despite the threats of pending winter weather. The board discussed the state report card which showed improvements across the board of the West Carroll Special School District.

The district received the rating of Advancing, moving from a Satisfactory ranking the year prior. Scores are based on the 2023-2024 school year. Overall the schools improved in all subject areas including ELA, Math, Social Studies and Science. Students are tested at the end of year in Grades 3-12 in the four core subject areas.

Director of Schools, Preston Caldwell stressed the importance of the five-year plan and the focus on academic improvement and bell-to-bell instruction.

“Our grades on the report card are not perfect, they are not what we want them to be. But they are improving and we’re getting there. We are showing improvement,” Caldwell explained to the board, “This data supports goal number 3 in our five year strategic plan. It supports K-12 literacy and numeracy.”

The board also voted to waive advertisement for competitive bids to purchase a new HVAC system, due to the emergency need to replace a unit at the Junior/Senior High School that is not operating. This unit services two classrooms at the school and is needed to keep the room heated and cooled. The board also approved the bid to replace the unit from Newbill’s Heating and Air.

The board also approved a bid to purchase a soil machine with grant money from the Perkins Reserve Grant. The $10,600 machine will take food waste compost and turn it into fertilizer that can be used in the raised beds for the agriculture classes at West Carroll. This purchase is part of the attempt to make the Career Technical Education CTE department at West Carroll Junior Senior High School more self-sufficient.