Crane board gets latest update on disaster planning

Parents whose children attend Crane schools gave the district high marks in its annual parent surveys, board members heard Tuesday evening at their monthly meeting.

Superintendent Laurie Doering noted in her report that parents scored the district in the 95th percentile or higher in the areas of school culture/climate; instruction; school safety, discipline and citizenship; school leadership/administration; and home school communication.

The district had a total of 2,218 surveys returned, said Lupe Lewis, director of Human Resources for the district.

Doering also reported that usage of the district’s ParentVue program, which allows parents to review student information (including grades and absences), has increased dramatically since 2015, when only 35 percent used the tool. For 2017, parent usage has increased to 73 percent.

“Although this number has more than doubled over the past two years, we know we can still do better,” her report stated, “and we will continue to focus on means to assist parents’ with ParentVue.”

Chief of Finance and Operations Dale Ponder updated the board on the district’s emergency response plans. Ponder noted that the district is moving toward having an online component that is easily accessible to any employee.

While paper plans kept in the principal’s office are updated annually, he noted, sometimes situations arise in which access is urgent. The new plan would be available by phone or computer as well as paper files. The district is scheduling an employee training as well as a mock-drill at a Crane school next week.

Details about the drill will be released after a few more adjustments are made, Ponder said after the meeting, but the district wanted the community to be aware that there is no actual emergency.

The purpose of the drill, Ponder noted during his presentation, is to test the technology against the plan. The district’s last drill was in 2009 at Crane Middle School. In other news: • The board voted to direct Doering to support four of the proposed changes to the by-laws of the Arizona School Boards Association and to oppose three of them.

• Board member Jim Colby commented that he would like to see more information given to parents about the Arizona school tax credits, noting that they are often misunderstood by the general public.

• Board member Sarah Claridge abstained from voting on approving an overnight trip for students at Pueblo Elementary School.

• The board accepted gifts to from the public (with gratitude) in the amount of $35,810.98.

• As part of the consent agenda, the board approved payouts to staff for results based funding, with the first payout being in December.