Three NASD Agenda Items of Interest

The Nazareth Area School District posted the agenda for Monday's meeting (read it here) and it includes three items I thought were interesting. First, the attendance, second, a fund balance policy, and third an Electronic Device policy (each is included at the end of the agenda).

The enrollment figures show 9th grade at 430, the largest single class. 5th and 6th grades have 360 and 370 students. And 4th grade and lower range from 289 to 331 and average 316 per grade. Enrollment seems to be declining.

The new MS is scheduled to open in Fall of 2009. Based on the current enrollment figures (no growth accounted for) the HS will have 1,591 students (97% capacity, see below), the MS will have 684 students (51% capacity), the IS will have 975 (87% or 78%, see below), and the Elems can't be determined based on current enrollment.

How does this compare to projections? HS - 1602 (o.7% increase over current population in Fall of 2009), MS - 783 (14.5% increase), IS - 1092 (12% increase), and ELEM - 1206. These projections were from page 22 of the Plancon-A document.

Plancon-A09 submitted to the State by the NASD indicates that the HS will house 9-12 with up to 1648 students, the MS will house 7 & 8 with up to 1340 students, the IS will house 4, 5 & 6 with up to 1,125 (down from the 1256 it can currently hold), and the three ELEMs will hold 2,000 (down from the 2,200 they can currently hold).

It would seem that the new MS building does a lot for grades 7 & 8 and grades K-3, but the HS will face some considerable challenges in the near future.

The second item is related to the Fund Balance. The policy designates how the balance is defined and how it can be used. It would seem the phrasing leaves the policy rather open. I guess I would have expected a fixed percentage instead of 'sufficient', but this is not an area I have expert knowledge in, so I'll simply point it out.

Sufficient funds shall be maintained in the Tax Stabilization Fund or be used as a revenue source to balance the General Operating Budget under the following conditions:

The Electronic Device policy covers everything - pagers, cell phones, pda's, and laptops.

It specifically notes:

Cellular telephones and other wireless communication devices shall be turned off and not visible during instructional and class time, during passing times between classes, and at any other time where use of the device would cause a disruption of school activities.

Use of any electronic device for illegal purposes or activities will subject the student to any and all disciplinary measures as provided by School Code, policy or law.

Cellular telephones and other wireless communication devices that have the capability to record and/or transmit photographs, audio, or video shall not be used for such purposes while on district property or while a student is engaged in school sponsored activities, unless expressly authorized in advance by the building principal or designee.

Maybe this is the nature of policy, but I would expect with or without a policy in place, that using a device for illegal purposes would subject you to punishment by law. Further, it would seem if an electronic device was turned off, it couldn't be used to record, transmit or otherwise function.

I understand the reason for the policy (fear of picturing or copying tests and sending them to other students who haven't yet taken them, etc), which also goes on to say a student cannot have unfiltered access to the internet, but it seems this will be very difficult to enforce consistently throughout the school and all school activities.