MARYSVILLE – Principal Terri Kaltenbach gave an update on the Arts & Technology High School at the school board meeting Feb. 17.

In the past few years poverty has increased at the school with 20 percent more free and reduced lunch students. There also has been growth in the number of special education students and a lowering in the graduation rate. They identified a need to understand cultures at the school so they went to tour the Hibulb Cultural Center. They decided they also need to better understand the growing latino, Ukrainian and poverty populations. Teachers also are having interventions when it comes to helping students with reading, writing and math to try to improve test scores. Part of the problem with graduation numbers is students not passing the state tests. They also are supporting students when it comes to behavior to try to keep them in class. Detentions are down as a result. School board member Chris Nation asked what the board could do to help at the school. He was told a drug and alcohol counselor and social worker.

•Principal Sharon Anderson and some of her staff talked about Grove Elementary School. They said the number of hispanic and special education students at that school has doubled since 2009. They also said a behavior intervention program started this year has led to “amazing changes.” They said the goal of the school improvement plan is to get 80 percent of students passing state exams in reading, writing and math. Using multi-level intervention,  scores already are improving, and they will reach that goal by the end of the year, Anderson said.

• James Stevens, executive director of Special Education, talked about that program. He said their mission is to be “good, reasonable and fair to students with disabilities.” He said no one cares about the obstacles, just the results. He said they want the students in the least-restrictive environment possible that will lead them to post-school independence. He said 62 percent of the district special ed students are in general education classes 80 percent of the time or better. The state average is 52 percent. But on the other end of the spectrum 20 percent are at the most-restrictive level, while the state average is 13.2 percent. The cost of the program is about $16.1 million, up from $15 million five years ago. In an effort to keep costs down, Stevens said 50 in-house trainings are taking place using local expertise. He said customer service is an emphasis.