PCS classified as Great district

Alison Smith with Education Service Unit (ESU) 16 had good news to deliver to the Perkins County School Board at their meeting on Jan. 21. 

Smith presented on assessment scores and Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow (AQuESTT).

She said the state has realized there’s so much more that happens in a school district than just student achievement scores. AQuESTT focuses more on making continuous improvement and less on compliance and checklists of accountabilities. 

Based on an innovative approach, all schools and districts are now classified as Excellent, Great, Good or Needs Improvement.

Overall, the Perkins County School District was classified as Great, with the elementary classified as Good, middle school as Excellent, and high school as great. 

Smith said Perkins County Schools is the only middle school in ESU 16 to receive an Excellent classification. 

“You are in very few that have a Great and a Good, so you really have really great things happening,” she said. 

Superintendent Phillip Picquet said they will continue to work on the areas needing improvement. 

Election of Officers

Angela Gloy and Chris Fryzek took the oath of office as newly-elected board members. 

In the election of officers that followed, Gloy was elected vice president and Fryzek, treasurer. Jayson Bishop retained his position as president and Amy Kroeker accepted the nomination as secretary “for one more year.”

Administrator reports

Picquet said the pipe has been delivered for the elementary school drainage project but an official start date has not been determined. 

Ryan Potts of Potts Electric is installing the new LED lights in Pritchett Gymnasium this week. 

High School Principal Dean Friedel has started using Saturday School as a method of making up attendance. He’s hoping this will reduce the number of absences. 

Friedel reported that staff and students at the junior and senior high have now been trained in the Standard Response Protocol.

ESU contracts approved

The following ESU 16 contracts for 2019-2020 were approved: 

• $266,785—Special education, early childhood, and school-age children services.

• $23,000—distance education services. 

• $17,454—licensed mental health practitioner services.

Upcoming dates

• Parent-teacher conferences will be held Thursday, Feb. 7 from noon to 8 p.m.

• The ACT for juniors has been scheduled for Tuesday, April 2 with a backup date of Wednesday, April 24. 

• The NSCAS testing window is March 18 through April 29, with makeup week until May 3.