Fulton Public Schools revamps physical education, health curriculum

Fulton Public Schools teachers are finishing up revisions to the K-12 physical education and health curriculum this year and will present their ideas to a committee, Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Hull told the school board during its Wednesday meeting.

The committee will consist of elementary and secondary administrators, parent representatives from K-fifth grade, 6-8 grades and 9-12 grades and physical education teachers representing each of those grade spans. District administrators are taking recommendations for the parent representatives from building administrators, Hull said. The curriculum will be presented to the board at its August meeting.

Hull also reported to the board that the district will pursue a $100,000 grant for a fabrication lab. If Fulton receives the grant, Hull said the middle school FabLab won't be as grand as the one at the high school, but it will continue the district's mission of seeking more science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) opportunities for students. The Missouri Research and Education Network awarded Fulton High School a $250,000 grant in 2013 for its fabrication lab. The new grant opens May 4 and ends June 12.

The middle school, like the high school, has a robotics team, which recently competed in a robotics competition at the University of Missouri. Middle school science teacher Lucy Shrout leads the middle school robotics team.

"I think we have a great foundation to build on with out high school FabLab," Hull said.

Fulton High School juniors will take the ACT test, an examination which results are necessary for many college applications, on April 28 as a new state requirement. Hull said the state is paying for the test. Students absent for the test will be able to make it up on May 12.

The district is also taking applications for summer school. Building principals will notify parents and guardians if their students will be required to attend summer school to move onto the next grade level or if their high school students will receive credit.

Hull said the board will be presented the learning targets for kindergarten-eighth grade and high school science courses at the next board meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 13.

The district has been focusing on Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) testing this week. Hull said the district's Wi-Fi was down Wednesday for about an hour, but Dan Hedgepath, who is in charge of technology, and his staff solved the issue promptly. She said out of 400 students testing on Tuesday, four needed assistance accessing the online test.

"So, overall to have grades 3-8 testing online for the first time it's going fairly well," Hull said.

Parents and guardians of sixth and seventh grade students should expect to receive a survey about participation in softball. On the request of board member Todd Gray in February, the district's Athletic Program Committee - made up of representatives from the high school and middle school, coaches from boys and girls sports, parent representatives and board members - looked into adding middle school softball. Low turnout from a survey prompted the district to send home another. If it's pursued, middle school softball will be added in the 2016-17 school year because schedules have already been finalized for 2015-16.

Hull added that a formal recommendation for middle school intramural sports will be presented to the board in May. She said that intramural opportunities for sixth and seventh graders stopped being offered in recent years.

Although the current school year is not yet complete, Hull said preparations for next year have begun. New faculty will begin several days of orientation on Aug. 11.

Fulton Public School's annual end-of-the-year celebration will take place at 6:30 p.m. on April 27. The celebration recognizes the teacher of the year, support staff of the year, retirees and the David W. White Outstanding Service in Education award recipient.