Atlantic School District Superintendent Steven Barber, Wednesday night at the school board meeting, spoke about the Riverside School District fatal bus fire near Oakland that occurred earlier this week, and offered reassurances to parents of the District concerned about school bus safety.

Barber said “I want to share my thoughts and prayers with the Oakland-Riverside School District after that tragic event that took place yesterday [Tuesday]. I’m sure the communities, the families, the school districts are searching for answers and they’re trying to get that figured out. So, I extended my sympathies to Dr. [Tom] Mitchell (Superintendent at Riverside CSD), and asked him if there is anything they need we would help to support that if need be.”

Barber said also, “In light of that, our Transportation Director Dave Eckles is really involved at the State level in school bus safety, and just this afternoon he put a letter together for parents and staff about what’s required for our bus drivers, what’s required for buses, what do we do for evacuations in training, and the procedures that they do every day to ensure that our machines are ‘up to steam,’ as well as our staff, and also preparing our kids for an event such as the one that took place down there [near Oakland).”

In other business, Mr. Barber said the idea of a Regional Academy is still being discussed. Included among that is a pre-apprentice construction trades program and how Atlantic can develop a program to connect with some of the skills that are being taught here already. And, how to overcome the barriers that exist within trying to create this learning environment. A couple of more meetings are scheduled in the coming weeks to further discussion and future action.

And finally, Superintendent Barber said Iowa School Report Card (http://reports.educateiowa.gov/schoolreportcard) results came out Wednesday. The good news is that the Atlantic High School and Elementary School were ranked “Acceptable,” the Middle School was “High Performing,” and Schuler Elementary was “Commendable.” Barber said much of the results are based on the Iowa Assessment.

The area that needs attention is where the State Assessment data doesn’t quite match the Core Curriculum.That’s something many districts are struggling with.