District 88 considers

plan to ease freshmen

into high school

Proposal offers

orientation on

the first day

of school

By RACHEL WEDDIG

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- A plan to help ease the transition for freshmen into high school dominated discussion by the District 88 school board Thursday night.

Richard LaPatka, New Ulm High School Principal, cited figures showing that 20 percent of all freshmen fail one class per semester.

The board made no decision to implement the plan, but the proposal will be an action item at a future meeting.

The transition process for freshmen into high school isn't going well because during the sophomore year, the number of students failing classes drops significantly, LaPatka said.

"The students are all struggling with the same thing -- the leap from eighth grade to ninth grade," LaPatka said. "They go from eighth grade that has few implications on their future, to the ninth grade that has major implications with their future."

The proposal allows only freshmen to attend the first day of school. Other students would start on the second day.

"We are really concerned with the freshmen and have been trying to figure out what we can do to make the transition easier for them," LaPatka said.

On the first day of school, the freshmen would attend different sessions to learn about the media center and computer labs, the school rules and policies, the computer server as well as different activities and guidance services.

Freshmen would also be given a student planner to help them keep track of activities and homework assignments. The planners would be paid for through a first-time program grant. Bob Carty, a representative from Premier Planners, would teach the students how to use their planners.

Throughout the school year during the students' home-room time, the freshmen would meet in the lecture room weekly and teachers would check to see if they are keeping their planners current.

An incentive program would encourage students to keep their planner up to date. However, if students neglect their planners, administration would meet with them individually to current the situation.

"I feel the planner would be a good way for teachers to know where their students are and for parents to know where their children are," LaPatka said.

All teachers would still report to school on the first day and would help out in the sessions for freshmen.

There was some concern with how beneficial non-freshmen teachers would be with the sessions, but LaPatka said that all teachers would be accountable for the day and would have assigned duties throughout the day.

"We have two choices," LaPatka said. "We can either continue as is, or try to fix it, because it needs to be fixed."

In other news, following the July 12 board meeting, the board had its annual review of the performance of Superintendent Harold Remme. Board Chair Sue Ullery reported that the board is pleased with Remme's job performance.

Carol Davis from Community Education presented results of a recent survey, which showed that people want more of a variety of classes offered and the best time to hold classes would be in the evening.

When asked about the overall community education program, 94 percent of people said the program is either effective or very effective.

Remme provided the board with a legislative update that showed that the district will receive an estimated $74,153 less in its general fund for 2001-2002 and $30,799 less in 2002-2003 than from the 2000-2001 year.

Even with the district's general fund rate increase of 2.7 percent in 2001-2002 and 4.8 percent in 2002-2003 , the district will still be $518 below the state average per pupil unit in this year and $488 below during the next school year.