The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON-Stephanie Wamble's K-1 class science project was the star attraction for Show and Tell at the Dayton School Board meeting last week.

Wamble's students have teamed up with Kristina Knebel's high school ag-science students to investigate the lifecycle of a duck.

The students had to provide written and oral documentation about their observations, while learning new words like waddle, and webbed, she said.

"The coolest part was using a flashlight to see the inside the egg," Wamble said.

The eggs should hatch before the school year ends, but students will continue their observations and lessons, until June, she added.

The unit meets the new science standards for grades K and 1, said Wamble.

In other school board news, Principal Paul Shaber said he has recently completed three days of activities designed for seventh and eighth graders, ninth and tenth graders, and eleventh and twelfth graders to help them become more confident and assured, and to help build a positive learning environment in school.

"There were varying degrees of success," he said. "I feel positive about next year." He said sixth graders will participate in similar CAP activities during Outdoor Camp in May.

Shaber also shared information about assessments and data that will be used to report student progress. He hopes to establish a baseline for the STAR assessment so that sixth grade progress can be tracked over time, until graduation.

Principal Pam Lindsley talked about classroom staff assignment for next year. She said teachers have been studying results and outcomes of the full multi-age system, and they have made recommendations to continue some multi-age classrooms, but return some rooms to the traditional single-grade design.

Superintendent Doug Johnson told the board of directors about new legislation requiring all local school districts to create a truancy board, made up of 2-3 people from juvenile justice and the courts, to deal with barriers to regular attendance.

"Finding people is the biggest problem. My concern is that if a kid doesn't get up, we don't have resources to send somebody out," he said. Johnson said six truancy report petitions were filed last year.

Also at the meeting, the board adopted the academic calendar for 2016-17, based on Superintendent Johnson's recommendation that the Friday that is part of the Columbia County Fair be a no-school day. There will be three days set aside for conferences, some half-day early releases, and two-hour late starts for employee training, he said.

The board also accepted the custodians bargaining agreement for 2015-16 and the certificated staff bargaining agreement for 2015-16.