CENTERBURG – Centerburg’s school board approved a new literacy curriculum Monday for elementary students starting next school year, with an amendment to remove four specific units/stories for age appropriateness.
The elementary school has been piloting two curricula throughout the current school year. The literacy team recommended at the March board meeting implementing a combination of the two — Core Knowledge Language Arts from Amplify in kindergarten through second grade and Into Reading from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for third through fifth grade.
Before board approval Monday, board member Josh Jackson added amendments to remove before printing or note in the teachers’ manuals not to use particular content for grades one, two, four and five.
The sections of CKLA curriculum removed included knowledge unit four “Early World Civilizations” for first grade and knowledge unit two “Early Asian Civilizations” for second grade because, in Jackson’s view, the units were not age appropriate.
Jackson did not take issue with the factual basis on the units, but rather he thought the heavy emphasis on various religious teachings in the units was too complicated for the lower grade levels.
The sections of Into Reading removed include a fourth grade story “Flora and Ulysses” and a fifth grade story “Inside Out And Back Again.” The reasoning Jackson provided being that the stories showed, in his view, characters being disrespectful to family members and to the United States.
The board’s vote of approval Monday comes after it postponed the vote last month to allow for more parental involvement. The district hosted several public review meetings following the literacy team’s recommendation in March, where parents and community members could learn about the curriculum.
Two parents voiced similar age-appropriateness concerns to Jackson on Monday before he motioned to amend the vote.
“My concern was also age appropriateness,” Jackson said. “With that said, I do put trust in the teachers to use the curriculum as they see fit for the community they live in and for the age group that they’re teaching.”
Jackson and the parents who spoke during public comment said the factual basis of the content, including stories removed, was not of concern.
Also Monday, the board approved $45,000 to be spent this year for a new bus from the School Bus Purchase Program.
The district has been approved for a total of four buses from the program and will approve purchases for the other three next fiscal year, treasurer Lori Houck said.
The district will not have a rate increase for medical/prescription self-insurance coverage next year.
Its renewal for coverage with The Jefferson Health Plan, starting July 1, 2022, has a rate increase of 0%. The district was able to not have a rate increase in part because it switched to a high deductible plan this year, which led to a healthy account balance, Houck said. Another factor included the district having a favorable loss ratio, the ratio of the claims paid by an insurer to the premiums earned.
Other insurance coverage will see slight increases, with renewal of the district’s dental insurance from Delta Dental at a rate increase of 2.4% and the district’s life insurance coverage from Anthem Life with $.01 increase per 1,000 on basic life cost.
The board accepted several donations Monday.
Chris and Susan Cordle donated $5,000 to the Cordle Scholarship/library fund. Centerburg’s Future Farmers of America chapter received $50.00 from Randy Bradford.
Several local businesses also made contributions to the district, including Shirck Orthodontics providing t-shirts to for a mini-cheer clinic and multiple businesses donating prizes for Centerburg staff who participated in the Knox Workplace Walking Challenge. Businesses included The Burg’s Scoops Cafe, Kolacheez Coffee Bar, Maximum Nutrition and 1834 Midway Tavern.
The elementary parent-teacher organization also donated books valued at $987.02 to the elementary teachers.
