Photo by David Prenatt. Ripley Central School District board member Larry Freligh receives a piece of cake from district clerk Vicki Carris. Freligh is leaving the board to serve as Ripley Town Justice.

RIPLEY — Ripley Central School elementary students, especially those in the sixth grade, have demonstrated a leap in math fluency since they began taking part in the Reflex Math program, board of education members learned at their regular meeting Dec. 19.

“Student automaticity with math facts has greatly increased,” Ripley principal Micah Oldham told board members. He shared a graph that measures the progress of sixth grade students over a period of 20 days.

The Reflex Math program is designed to help students develop a competency with basic math facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. It is a game-oriented system that assists students at every level, especially those in need of intervention, and helps them gain confidence in their math skills, Oldham said.

The graph showed how, at the beginning of the program, 12 sixth grade students were at a fluency level of 0-49 percent, and five students were at a level of 50-79 percent.

After an average of 19.5 days of student usage, only one student remained below 50 percent fluency; five students were in the 50-79 percent range; five students were now in the 80-94 percent level; and six students had achieved the highest level of fluency in the 95-100 percent range.

“The kids love the program,” Oldham said. “We gave the kids a choice of what to do during recess and 29 percent said they wanted to work on their math facts.”

In a related matter, Oldham reported that the Ripley staff and ELA teachers have been working with a representative of the American Reading Company in an effort to increase student proficiency in literacy.

The American Reading Company, based in King Of Prussia, Pa., offers schools a systematic approach to promote a love of reading in students. Its website describes it as a mission-based company that seeks to “ensure that every student can read, write, and think on grade level.” “It’s exciting to be able to fully engage with that program,” Oldham said.

Ripley Superintendent William Caldwell related his experience at the most recent superintendents’ meeting at Jamestown Community College. He remarked that there is a “big push” toward mechanical and technical instruction. Many scholarship programs have been developed with guaranteed internships, he said.

Caldwell also noted that the annual senior citizens luncheon was a great success with more than 50 seniors attending. Both he and Oldham noted how impressed they were with the sixth graders who served the luncheon.

Oldham also applauded Ripley students and parents for the success of the student-led conference program. He reported that 79 percent of the students led evening conferences with their parents on their progress in school. Those whose parents could not come to the evening conferences presented their progress for their teachers the next day in school, he said.

Oldham noted that Ripley was in “good standing” according to the Every Student Succeeds Act. ESSA, signed into law by President Obama in 2015, represented a further step in ensuring equal opportunity education for all students.

Oldham also told the board that the school had successfully “rolled out the new fire alarm system,” for teachers and students. Teachers reviewed the system on Dec. 7 and students were introduced to it on Dec. 11. On De. 12, the school held a final lockdown drill for this year with “good results,” he said.

Board president Paul McCutcheon expressed his satisfaction with the fire alarm system. “This alarm project was done ahead of time and under budget, which is a rarity,” he said.

In other business, the board bid farewell to fellow member Larry Freligh, who leaves the board to serve as Ripley town justice.

Freligh was elected to the town justice position, filling the vacancy left by the death of long-time justice Lavern “Gibby” Gibson.

“Thank you for allowing me to serve Ripley school,” Freligh said. “I am leaving knowing there are two good people in charge of the school.”