Jeannette Myhre Elementary School will be taken off program improvement if the state Department of Public Instruction confirms the Bismarck School District's breakdown of 2002-03 assessment results.

Riverside Elementary School is too close to call, according to assistant superintendent Rick Buresh.

District officials expect the results from DPI within the next week, but said they are confident that Myhre has made adequate yearly progress in every category. Buresh said Riverside is questionable because the students with disabilities group scored too close to the state cutoff for proficiency to tell if they made adequate yearly progress.

"This brings up one of the concerns I've had with No Child Left Behind," said Bill Demaree, Myhre principal. "Whether we are on program improvement or not could hinge on 10 special-needs kids. It shouldn't just hinge on a small group."

Both schools were put on program improvement five years ago and made adequate yearly progress for the first time on the 2001-02 North Dakota State Assessment. To be taken off program improvement, the schools have to show progress two years in a row.

Myhre will more than likely be taken off program improvement, Demaree said, but that could have a potential negative effect on the school. Being on program improvement made Myhre eligible for more grants and federal funds. Now the school will be forced to curtail staff development and the numbers of teachers because there will be less money.

"Because of the federal funding opportunities we have had money to hire extra staff, bring in new programs and train teachers," Demaree said. "We will have to have a belt tightening."

Last year the school received a $98,000 program improvement grant that paid for an additional teacher and one full-time and part-time aide for kindergarten, which allowed the school to switch to full-day kindergarten. The rest of the money was used for professional development and after-school activities.

Demaree said a cut in money for after-school activities won't impact the school too much because of a district-wide after-school program that will be implemented this fall. But finding money to keep the additional staff that was added will be more difficult.

"We still need those positions," Demaree said. "We went to full-time kindergarten because we knew it was better, but it's costly."

Demaree said that instead of spending money to add another teacher in grades where class sizes are more than 20, it will go to pay for staff added last year. Demaree said he didn't know if that would hurt students.

"That's something we'll have to monitor," Demaree said. "It has been shown that smaller class sizes help students here."

Grant money isn't the only thing the school will lose out on. The district has to set aside 20 percent of its Title One money for program improvement schools, which is about $350,000, according to Buresh. That money is split between Myhre and Riverside and used for tutoring, transportation and staff development.

If Myhre and Riverside meet adequate yearly progress, parents will no longer be able to send their kids to Sylvan Learning Center for tutoring. They also won't have the option of moving their child to a higher performing school.

"It would be nice to have the resources to stay off of program improvement," Demaree said. "It's a strong possibility it will affect us."

Buresh said it would be beneficial to have that extra money freed up to be used across the district. While the schools have used money allocated for staff development and tutoring, money for transportation is hardly ever used. Whatever funds are left over go back into the budget the next school year. Buresh said it would be nice not to have the funds tied up.

Myhre receives the biggest chunk of Title One money of any school in the district, and although Riverside gets less, it still is a sizable amount, Buresh said. He also said teachers went through training so programs could be continued once the schools went off program improvement.

Despite losing money, Demaree said being taken off program improvement is proof that the long hours teachers have put in building new programs and curriculum are helping their students.

"It has been a lot of work for Myhre teachers," Demaree said. "They didn't change things overnight. It was certainly a challenge."

(Reach reporter Sheena Dooley at 250-8225 or sheenadooley@ndonline.com.)