VEEDERSBURG, Ind. — Response to Intervention is proving to be successful for students at Southeast Fountain Elementary School.

Assistant Principal Diane Spence told the school board Thursday night that Response to Intervention is a theory aimed to help students at risk of failing or are failing in language arts and math. Student progress is tracked through assessment testing and the Acuity computer program. Acuity is an assessment program that creates individualized student reports based on assessment that can point out specific areas that a particular student needs to work on.

The elementary school has two RTI rooms; one for the primary grades and one for the intermediate grades. RTI students report to their classroom for 30 minutes every day. The RTI classrooms use a variety of methods to encourage learning.

Spence explained that every Friday in the primary RTI room dogs are brought in for students to read to. The students really like reading to the dogs, because they are not judgmental. After reading to a dog, a student can them progress by reading to a teacher.

Danise Smith said that the intermediate RTI classroom is very hands-on education. Intermediate students especially love using the computer SMART board in their learning. Besides the SMART board learning, intermediate students also use the leap track system with skill cards.

“Students want to come to RTI; they become more confident with their abilities,” Spencesaid. RTI students perform better with the more personalized learning. At the beginning of the school year, 178 students qualified for RTI and since then 35 students have been dismissed from RTI due to their improvement. RTI currently has 153 students with the new semester.

In other business, school board members:

-- Elected Nick Davis as president; Jeff Fishero, vice president; and Doug Davenport, secretary.

-- Approved the master teaching contract as presented with a 1 percent increase in salary, a $200 stipend per certified employee and additional ECA positions added as specified. Teacher salaries are based on tiers by their years of experience.

-- Approved the non-certified staff salary increase of one percent effective Jan 1.

-- Approved the quote from Warrick Motor Co. of Covington for $25,842 for a 2010 F-250 Ford Pick-Up truck with a snow plow. Superintendent Corey Austin said the new truck replaced the oldest truck in the school’s fleet which required a repair that cost more than the truck was worth.

-- Approved the quote from Midwest Transit Equipment of Whitesfield for $75,583 less the trade-in allowance for a 66-passenger school bus.

-- Learned from the corporation’s Food Services Director Jason Milo the school recently passed two back-to-back cafeteria audits. The first audit analyzed the school’s nutrition labels that are on every school food item. Milo said that they did very well and the analyst had no recommendations for improvement for the school. The second cafeteria audit reviewed the free and reduced lunch applications and also analyzed how the school corporation’s food is prepared and served.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Southeast Fountain School Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. EST Feb. 11 in the Fountain Central High School library.