The Jackson School District Board of Education members accepted an evaluation on the district's Parents As Teachers program during their regular meeting Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The Parents As Teachers (PAT) program was described in the meeting's agenda as a home-school-community partnership that supports and promotes the parent as a child's first teacher. The description stated parents and their children can participate in the program from prenatal to kindergarten entry.

Brooke Uchtman, director of Early Childhood Education for the district, said the program consists of personal visits from a certified parent educator. She said the district has three full-time and four part-time parent educators on staff.

Uchtman said PAT provides participants with opportunities for developmental screenings and group connections such as parenting workshops and family fun nights as well as supplying information regarding resources from various community services.

During the 2022-23 school year, Uchtman said the district's PAT program served 325 families, 209 of which met at least one of the required high-needs criteria. She reported screening results from 195 children revealed 54 indicated delays and seven of those students were referred for further evaluation.

Uchtman said the goals of the program include informing parents of possible delays in their child's development, preparing children for success in school and in life, and providing appropriate and useful information and guidance to parents as their child's primary and most important teacher.

Electives

The board also approved curriculum for Secondary Core Electives at the junior and senior high levels. Secondary Curriculum leaders Mike Tornetto, Mary Adams, Kerrie Middleton and Joseph Spurgeon discussed multiple course options available to students in the areas of social studies, math and science.

Tornetto, teacher and head of the Social Studies department at Jackson High School, pointed out that some of the elective courses offered follow the state's Learning Expectation guidelines but that the Jackson School District offers more options for electives than what is required by the state. In these classes, Tornetto said standards from Advanced Placement College Boards and professional organizations such as the American Psychology Association will be used.

Bus drivers

The board approved a plan of monetary incentives to be used to recruit and retain school bus drivers for the district.

Keenan Kinder, assistant superintendent of Safety and District Operations, presented the plan, which will pay out a hiring incentive of $500 to new hires and stipends to returning drivers of $650 to $1,350, depending on their years of service.

In contrast to Cape Girardeau Public Schools that uses a third party, Robinson Transport Inc., to bus their students to school, Jackson School District owns its own fleet of school buses and hires its own drivers. However, Kinder said hiring and retaining bus drivers has been difficult in the last several years, necessitating an incentive plan.

Kinder said new drivers must pass a driving test and drive 20 times to receive the first $300. After that, they must drive on a regular basis for the remainder of the school year to receive the additional $200 to be paid out in June 2024.

He said full-time route drivers and substitute drivers who drive 85% of the school year or more will be paid out the stipend depending on their years of service in June 2024. Kinder said there were five new bus drivers hired for the 2023-24 school year and 46 returning drivers, including six who have more than 21 years of service.

Kinder said the district spent $59,700 in stipends for the 2022-23 school year and projected a cost of $44,300 for the 2023-24 school year. He said the cost is lower for this school year because of veteran drivers retiring, and added this was a one-year plan that will be evaluated on an annual basis.