Ames High School Research Paper

At the beginning of the school board meeting, the changing of the curriculum at Fellows Elementary School was debated. A woman with a son that’s in Mrs. Francos’ 1st grade class at Fellows Elementary School spoke to the board about a pilot program. She shared her passionate grievances about five different tests that were given to her son and her son's class only. Another woman with three children at Fellows, claimed that her son was being discriminated against. Mrs. Francos’ class was the only class that was required to take the pilot. This included three different literacy programs. This woman went as far as to threaten taking her son out of Mrs. Francos’ class and putting him to another class. Ames High School's business program showed
a video from DECA. This video talked about the experience that the new program had given them. This was a very creative video that got me interested in DECA. The students from Ames High School were then questioned by the board members about their experience from this program and asked for more funding. A lady from a company talked about the fixed assets inventory proposal that would reduce the assets of the buildings and moving from old books to electronic cheap products.
New inventory like books, equipment, furniture and utilities, that could be used by the district, would have little cost. The estimated cost of it all would be 5,000 dollars and nothing over that, which I think is very cheap. One of the board members named Luke Deardoff, said it might cost more; so it might not be doable. A Cell Tower lease land for Ames High School cost 40,000 dollars. The current land that is leased by Ames High School expires in 2020. Fifteen years is the length of the time of the lease. Monthly rental of 8,000 dollars would be too much for the next lease. Ames High School and the school board will have to do something before the lease expires in 2020. Jeremy Knutzen, my 6th grade teacher, is the Ames Middle School Athletic Director. He was there to talk about fixing the white gravel track that students use by adding lines. Adding lines would help the track athletes by distinguishing their running boundaries, said Mr. Knutzen. The area by the track and football field at Ames Middle School seriously needs a shelter that has a restroom and water, said Mr. Knutzen. This area is a ways away from the school and some students cannot wait for the teachers to unlock the door to use the restrooms and water, especially after
school. My reactions from this school board meeting is that school board is more serious than I anticipated. I first thought that the school board only talked about policy of all the school districts and debate them with no real opposition, but boy was I wrong. From observing the first two woman that spoke to the school board, I sharply knew that school board was no joke. I personally agree with the first two woman to stop the pilot and see it as discrimination of one classroom. The Entrepreneurial Program presentation by DECA was very informative and also got me interested in the program. New reforms to Ames Middle School seems perfectly reasonable to me. I know this from personal experience with pain and the hassle that not having a shelter was horrific. Overall this meeting was super engaging as well as very informative. This meeting taught me many things about government (parliamentary procedure). Although, I still have many things to learn.