Peabody-Burns Board of Education and the Kansas Learning Network will spell out improvement initiatives being implemented in the district at 7 p.m. Dec. 1 at Peabody First Christian Church.

Kansas Learning Network hosted on-site visits in November of 2009 with students, teachers, administrators, board members, and people from both the Peabody and Burns communities. Information gathered during the visits was used to create a program of improvement for USD 398 students called a Multi-Tier System of Supports.

“With MTSS we have had positive indications that we are doing a better job, not only with our special education students, but with all of our kids,” Superintendent Rex Watson said of the program. “The program concentrates on reading and math and we feel MTSS has given us the tools to do a better job providing students with disabilities access to core curriculum.”

Joe Dominic, a consultant for Cross and Joftus, will be the speaker for the meeting. Cross and Joftus is a firm hired by the Kansas Department of Education to serve in an intervention capacity for school districts that have been classified as “on improvement” for two or more consecutive years.

Dominic, from Pennsylvania, will explain how the MTSS program will be used and the changes the district can expect.

“I don’t know exactly what the agenda will be for his presentation,” Watson said. “But part of it will likely include answering questions from patrons and parents.

“The basic issue is to remind the communities where we have been and why, and show us where we need to be and how we will get there.”

District patrons are encouraged to attend the meeting whether they have children in the school system or not.

“But it is important for parents to be there as well,” Watson added. “This will impact all of our students.”

For more information, contact the central office at (620) 983-2198.