Medford to go to single testing day at high school

Medford schools will be going to a one and done approach when it comes to mandated testing at the high school level.

At Monday’s school board meeting, board members approved consolidating the testing day for the Pre-ACT and ACT into the same day and have seniors, who are not required to take the tests, out of the building for post-secondary planning day.

According to curriculum director Elizabeth Rachu, currently the tests are taken on three different days. This has some staff proctoring tests while others are taking tests. This system creates headaches for classes where there are students of multiple grade levels causing loss of education time as some students miss lessons due to testing.

It also presents a major burden on special education teachers when making needing testing accommodations such has having test read aloud to students or additional time needed because it takes them away from other classes where they are providing educational services.

According to Rachu, by having everyone in the school on the same testing day, this would reduce the potential for distractions, and make for improved staff utilization while also making it easier to get all the testing completed before the spring.

Rachu also noted this would result in a potential cost savings for the school district with all staff being available to sub and not having to pay substitutes to cover classrooms of staff proctoring or to come and proctor the test.

Rachu said they planned to implement it for this year with the testing day to be Tuesday, March 25.

Once students completed their testing for the day, they would be able to check out early or have community building and quiet activities in the school. Seniors would not be required to attend that day, but would instead be encouraged to schedule placement exams with their colleges or other post-secondary planning activities.

Board member Don Everhard raised a concern about the potential of testing fatigue and asked Rachu to track the testing scores to see if there is a difference between the one day of testing and having it more spread out.

Rachu noted that there are breaks built in throughout the day to reduce testing fatigue but said she would keep track of any change in results.

Referendum projects Medford school district taxpayers will see a long-term cost savings thanks to favorable interest rates for borrowing for the recently approved referendum project.

The district locked in an interest rate of 4.48%. Finance director Audra Brooks noted this was well below 5.005.25% projected interest rates used in determining the financial impact of a referendum. In addition, the district was able to secure a bond rating of AA-. On Monday, Brooks explained to members of the finance committee and again to the full board the work involved in securing a favorable bond rating. She said the rating companies downgrade the district on ratings over the economic health of the community when compared to national for things like household income. She said the district benefitted from the financial impact of the Rural Virtual Academy as well as through fiscal practices put in place by the school board.

What this means is interest savings of $1.27 million to area taxpayers over the life of the loan.

“It was really great news. It was great for Medford,” Brooks said.

In other referendum project discussion, board members formally approved the contract with Wendel, the project architects after it was reviewed by the district’s attorney. A contract with the general contractor, Miron, is still being reviewed.

Board members also reviewed the upcoming phases to the referendum project. District administrator Laura Lundy said the plans for phase 1 for this summer include work in the middle school gym and replacement of the cafeteria doors on the north side of the middle school. While scheduled for phase one, Lundy suggested the district may want to hold off on replacing the berms at the elementary school and move that to phase 3 at the end of the project.

The initial budget for phase 1 was just over $1 million. Miron’s proposed budget puts the costs at just over $1.2 million, however, that number jumps to about $1.6 million with the addition of things like fees, contingencies, porta potties, performance bonds and oversight expenses.

Lundy said the reason to push the berm replacement to the end of the project is an additional project that the district would like to do if there is money left, would be to add two pre-K classrooms onto the kindergarten wing of Medford Area Elementary School. She said it would make sense to wait and see if that would happen either with left over referendum or Fund 46 money before doing the work on the berms to potentially have to redo it later.

The major work to the high school is not slated to take place until the summer of 2026.

In other business, board members:

• Received a legislative update from Lundy. Of the bills, AB1, which reverts the testing score reporting back to what it has been in the past from changes made last year by the Department of Public Instruction, Lundy said is the one most likely to make it into law. She noted that for the other education bills such as prohibiting cellphone use, requiring cursive writing instruction and teaching civics in the elementary grades, the district is already doing those things and would not be impacted by any proposed changes.

• Received word that Lundy was invited to speak at a national education conference on how to get children to attend summer school.

• Received word that the annual legislative dinner will be held on Monday, April 14 with a similar format as prior years. So far, three legislators have confirmed they will be attending.

• Reviewed the student fees and kept them the same as they are currently. The board annually reviews the fees. It was noted that about 80% of parents pay the sports fee without question with about 20% request the waiver due to it being a financial hardship.