At the September 12, 2016 meeting of the Bethel Board of Education (BOE), Superintendent Virginia Potter announced that he district plans to launch Pillar Premier Week September 26, 2016 through September 29, 2016 in conjunction with Parent/Teacher conferences The Pillar program is an educational philosophy based on the following six characteristics: collaboration, civic responsibility, critical thinking, entrepreneurial competiveness, creativity, and global connectedness. Parents will be invited to a two presentations that will introduce the concepts to them. They will be asked to participate in a collaborative task. The rubrics for pillar participation will be explained along with grade level specific information.

She also reported that the staff completed staff development training, for the new science curriculum, technology training and pillar training during the month prior to the beginning of the new school year.

In addition, Potter said that although there were busing issues the first week of school, most of the issues have been resolved. The school is looking to add another elementary route to handle the increased number of students. The current enrollment stands at 1293.

In academics, Potter announced that the HIVE program is underway again this year, the teachers plan to use HIVE time this year for teachers to meet with their students once a month to instruct them on positive student behavior in addition to providing academic intervention for struggling students.

A new Lego program has been introduced and the Lego training sets are available for training. The Lego Company will provide training for the staff to use with the students.

According to Potter, the focus for the 2016-2017 year will be the development of 21st century skills and preparing students for common core testing. Although Bethel students only had passing marks in one third of the state common core scores, the teachers plan to develop these competencies especially in Math and English for next year. On the good side, the ACT scores exceeded the state average for the 2015-2016 school year. Bethel students average score was 23.2 whereas the state average was 22.0.

Owner's Representative Joe Hackleroad reported that the building project is on schedule and within the budget. Over the summer, the upgrades to ST 201 were completed. In addition, the roofing is almost complete. The interior mechanical, electrical and plumping have been started. Hackleroad anticipates the window will be installed next month, which will complete the sealing of the facility. In addition, he announced that the expansion materials for the bus barn are on order and reported that the expansion should be completed by the end of the year.

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