District Applying for 21st Century Learning Grant

The Meadows Valley School Board held their regular meeting on Tuesday, March 10. Topics included January financials, policy approvals, and curriculum and open position updates.

Superintendent Dee Fredrickson presented a preliminary application for the 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant. She explained to the Board that the school applied and did not receive the grant four years ago, but they wanted to try again and requested support to submit the application. This grant would provide funding to support after school programs or to create an all day preschool program. Fredrickson said the grant money could be used to hire a program director and teacher and that programming would “need to be academically enriching”. She highlighted a similar program in Riggins that has been in place for over a decade that would provide a great model for MV to emulate. Fredrickson told the Board that the application must be submitted by April 3 and invited them to join the grant writing team if interested.

The board received Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) score updates that showed continued improvement for students in grades K through 3. Meadows Valley is using Amira Learning, Idaho’s chosen state wide early literacy assessment. Amira has been used in Idaho since 2017 and was rolled out at MVSD for the 2025-26 school year. The Amira website describes the platform as integrating Science of Reading research with AI technology to provide adaptive interaction. Fredrickson said they are “working through hiccups” learning the program as it is “quite a shift from last year,” but they are showing some good growth. Board Trustee Chris Peterson commented on the data saying it showed, “very good progress” and was very cool to see. Fredrickson said the test also can help with dyslexia testing.

Fredrickson noted the computer embedded curriculum they have been using for the secondary school would be changing to Transcend. This year’s platform is called Gradient Learning and the previous platform used was Summit Learning. All platforms fall under the umbrella of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and specific subject curriculum will remain the same.

Transcend will include some for-profit elements where the older platform resources were all included and could be used on the computer with or without internet. The Superintendent said Transcend will provide more coaching options and will still be no charge, but the school would have options to purchase additions including hard copies of the curriculum rather than only using online tools.

Regarding Professional Development, Fredrickson said teachers and staff have been discussing updates to the school’s PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) and would be rolling out some new ideas that will be launched as Mountaineers C.L.I.M.B.

Athletics Director and Vice Principal Jared McIlvain said the high school track team is holding steady at about 12 students this season. He is hoping they will be returning key players for next year’s wrestling team and hopes they will be putting some names on the banner in the gym this year for track & field. McIlvain said new record boards for both middle school and high school would be installed soon.

Fredrickson noted the school’s FFA Chapter has been very active and that they would be traveling for conventions in April and June.

The Superintendent said she and school Custodian Tamara Brusso had been discussing plans for building updates and summer projects and highlighted duct work in the attic, HVAC system updates, and a parking lot reseal and repainting as two larger projects to be done. Fredrickson told the Board that bids for resealing were coming in at around $35,000 which she said was a good surprise as she had expected bids to be much higher.

Fredrickson said letters of intent to sign or not sign contracts for certified staff for next year’s school year are being returned. She said they are expecting to get contract out earlier this year, possibly in early May, which will give the school a head start on advertising open positions. Fredrickson said the extra time was important as they need “every advantage to try to find the best people”.

Currently, the school is advertising open positions for a K-12 School Counselor, Elementary Teacher, and Secondary Science Teacher. Fredrickson noted that the current science teacher stepped up to help fill the role this school year and was told in the hiring process that the school would be advertising the position again for the following year. She said the current person may be the teacher next year, but they would still like to advertise, and also noted there were no other applicants last year. Board Trustee Barbara Dixon said, “I would just like to see a really strong science program.”

Fredrickson continued saying high school students have been using IDLA online classes and said “it has been hard for our kids”, explaining the classes are structured to be a five day a week program. She said there have been some time issues since the school has a four day school week and a block schedule. She added the class is a good challenge for the students and that she has been thankful to have the option of IDLA as it is low cost and taught by a certified Idaho teacher. Peterson added he thought there was great educational value in the skills taught in online classes and learning how to gather information online, saying it helps prepare them for post secondary education as well as the workforce.

Jonathan Gillen, Regional Director with Charter Impact was in attendance to present the school’s financial report from January. Charter Impact was hired in 2025 to handle financial management after long time business manager Carol Whitney’s retirement this past December. The January financial report is available on the school website under school board meeting info.

Gillen explained that for the most part, the school has to spend money to get money, meaning some school accounts will show negative until all accounts are reconciled or “the government pays the school” and it should balance out toward the end of each school year. Monthly financial reports should be available on the school website moving forward.

Second readings were completed for policies 8605 regarding retention of school records, 3570 regarding student records, 3570P1 regarding maintenance of school student records, 3570F1 notification to students and parents of rights concerning a student’s school records, 3570F2, 4170 regarding district or school operated media, 4260 regarding records related to the public, and 4260F1 district records request form and fees. All were passed unanimously.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14 at 7:00 p.m..