The Warren County R-III School District will form a 36-member committee made up of district staff, parents and community members to develop restructuring plans due to poor academic performance at Warrior Ridge and Daniel Boone Elementary schools. A 5-0 vote was made during the Oct. 13 board of education meeting. Board members David Housewright and Beth Banze were absent. The restructuring plan requirement, in direct correlation with the No Child Left Behind Act, stems from poor student Annual Yearly Performance (AYP) scores in communication arts and math. Daniel Boone’s inclusion comes from its feeder relationship to Warrior Ridge. In 2012, proficiency requirements set forth by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in communication arts and math are 83.7 percent and 81.7, respectively. The schools in question for the R-III district had scores of 47 percent for communication arts and 47.6 percent for math in 2011. “Right now, we’re in level 4 restructuring and planning,” said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “If we don’t make the AYP scores next year, then we’ll be in level 5 restructuring and implementation.” Klinginsmith said once the committee is finalized, it will be tasked with selecting a plan by December. “We want to at least have an initial plan before Christmas and then we’ll have six months to implement it,” he said. “If we reach the score requirements, we won’t have to implement a plan.” Superintendent Dr. Tom Muzzey said the reasoning behind forming the committee was simple. “We need more than a quick fix,” he said. “Thirty-six people are better than one individual.” Klinginsmith agreed. “We’re putting this team together because we want this to be a committee decision,” he said. “We’re open minded going into this and we’re excited to hear from the committee members. “The district as a whole needs to have a common vision of quality instruction shared by everyone,” Klinginsmith added. “That’s the biggest thing.” During the meeting, Muzzey responded to concerns over teachers’ employment within the two schools. “I know a lot of the staff and teachers’ question is ‘Will I have a job?’ ” he said. “I can say yes. We want to maintain all the staff. We hired them because we feel they’re experts in their field.” Muzzey said the ultimate goal is that the committee develops a plan that will first and foremost benefit student education. “We hope that 36 people of various backgrounds can sit and figure out what is best for the kids now and in the years to come,” he said. In addition to the committee being tasked with reviewing the current academic configuration of the two schools, district officials also said they will be doing their part to help make adjustments with a new kindergarten thru fifth-grade math program called “Singapore Math” and a new reading program called “Fast ForWord,” which will be implemented next year. “What we need is consistency in our instruction methods that tie back to state standards,” Klinginsmith said. The committee is scheduled to meet between six to eight times from now until December. “The meetings will be open,” said Muzzey. “We want to solicit parent and patron comments and input.”