Atlantic School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Amstein says there’s mostly good news to report when it comes to the District being taken off the Iowa Department of Education Association’s (IDEA) “Watch list,” for “Schools/Districts in Need of Assistance” (SINA/DINA)…those schools failing to live up to the standards of “No Child Left Behind.” He said the District was removed from the “watch” list in the categories of reading and math, based on the Iowa Assessment test results. He added that there’s not a lot of districts in Iowa that can claim that achievement.

The Atlantic High School is on a “Delay 2” schedule in Math. The IADE reduced the number of “Non-proficient” kids by 10-percent. In reading, even though the scores went up, officials didn’t reduce the number of non-proficient students. Last year’s bench mark was 100-percent. The Middle School is listed as a SINA 5 school, even thought the reading scores went up. In Math the school is in Delay 3, after reducing the number of non-proficient students by 17-percent.

The Schuler Elementary School is listed as a SINA 2 in both Reading and Math. The Washington Elementary School remains on the Watch list, after a “Smarter Balance” test, which the State of Iowa is dropping, so it remains to be seen how that will affect future scores. Amstein said also, the State is looking at developing a different type of ranking system.

The Iowa Legislature is supposed to look at the matter and implement a new system in the fall of 2015, that may replace the SINA/DINA list. He said thus far though, the District as a whole as made progress.

Amstein said also, 24 new teachers were welcomed to the District Monday morning, in advance of the first day of school on Wednesday. In other business, the Board of Ed approved a renewal of an SRO (School Resource Officer) agreement with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Corey Larsen will continue to serve in that role.