The Hallsville Board of Education met yesterday (Monday, Jan 22) evening and we are pushing forward with a few exciting things! I'm sorry for the length of this post -- but we're moving!
No-Tax Increase Bond: We approved language to be on April 3rd's election. We are asking our school district's patrons to allow the district to bond $7 million -- a bond that will not result in a tax increase for anyone. We have this capacity after paying off debt. What will we do for the $7 million? At a minimum--we will be adding an 8-classroom wing and a full-size gymnasium to the Hallsville Primary School. This will allow us to relieve overcrowding issues at the Intermediate school by moving the 2nd graders over to the Primary School. The gym will allow lunch periods to be a bit more relaxed, because currently, the 'cafenasium' serves as both a PE space and a cafeteria. The gymnasium will be a storm shelter to hold approximately 600 individuals. The board also intends to have funds available to refurbish needed areas within the rest of the campuses. These projects will be selected from the identified by teachers and administrators. Lastly, it would be the board's intent to purchase the 1.42 acres with a significant building located at 14633 RICKETTS RD that borders our school district's property. This property would allow for a single maintenance location in addition to providing additional opportunities for our wrestling students. As we bid the work, if prices come in lower than predicted by our architectural firm, we could also potentially add one or two, two-room classrooms on the other wings of the Primary school and a locker room onto the gymnasium. If pricing is favorable, it would be our intention to pursue this as well. As a board, we recognize and believe our plan is a healthy balance between academia and extra-curricular activities. It's important to remember that while a full size gymnasium is expensive, the gymnasium will primarily serve as a classroom for the K-2nd grade. There's also extensive research that shows (I'm happy to source if anyone's interested) the more active children are in extracurricular activities (such as wrestling, sports, FFA, 4H, clubs) that they have higher attendance rates, higher grades, and higher satisfaction in their education than those children who aren't involved in extracurricular activities. As good stewards of your taxpayer funds, financially and looking long-term, we could have asked the taxpayers for $8 million, an additional $1 million than we landed on. I believe this is the right decision, to save capacity for future (4-5 years) improvements that will need to take place at the Middle School. Lastly, as we ask taxpayers for this ability -- it's important to remember this will not financially impact your tax liability (no-tax increase) and will improve the learning spaces of our children throughout the district. If you didn't make it to any of our work sessions, you can see the final product from our architect's work here. If you haven't seen the renderings and/or floor-plan, I encourage you to do so. It's exciting! Staffing Needs: The board has recognized for several months that our administrative team has remained short-staffed compared to the Dept. of Elementary & Secondary Education standards and is quite frankly, at risk for burning out our administrators. Superintendent Downs recommended and the Board approved the most conservative option presented: Option Y. This would mean as a board, we have approved moving forward with hiring an in-house Director of Operations (to be certified or uncertified) and an Assistant Principal to be split between the Intermediate and Primary school. This is a fiscally responsible middle ground between the scenarios presented. If you would be critical of the need of an Assistant Principal and a Director of Operations, I would ask you to do one thing: make an appointment with Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Jimerson, and/or Mr. Downs so they can provide you with real-life examples of how these positions will actually benefit our children. At the Coffee with a Principal last week, Mrs. Morris had a wonderful example of how not having an Assistant Principal has limited her ability to assist and help our teachers with growth and best practices. This also would provide funds for stipends for faculty to assist with curriculum implementation and adjustments. It's no secret among our administrators that they have a desire to help their teachers improve, provide feedback, spend more time in the classrooms, and stay updated with the best research-based curriculum. Adding these stipends and positions will move the pendulum and while it may take a year or two for our 'test' scores to feel this -- I believe it's the right move. Also in the link above is some restructuring from Central Office, which will take place at the same time. Capital Improvements: The Board awarded a contract and will be moving to execute repavement across the campus. It's our hope that this is completed during Spring Break week. Several of us board members have continually been concerned about the safety and appearance of the huge pot-holes across our campuses. We look forward to the community benefiting from this in the coming months! Other Items: A few other tidbits: 1) The Board decided to table the Climate Survey to February since we just received the Climate Survey information about 24-hours before our meeting. 2) We were joined by Jacob Harmon, serving as our trial student representative on the school board for the rest of the school year. Jacob spoke about the OPAA lunch program and student concerns at the high school level. 3) We approved a budget amendment to be reflective of budgetary changes we have seen thus far in the fiscal year. 4) The School Foundation is moving along -- but is still likely 9-12 months away from receiving 501(c)3 status. I can provide additional details if folks are interested. Budget Outlook Those of you that know me, know that I am passionate and interested in state government. I wanted to share with you that yesterday, Gov. Greitens released his proposed budget for next year. As a whole, the state legislators have difficult decisions to make--they need to cut approximately $300 million from their previous projections. Gov. Greitens called for an additional $50 million in funding for DESE schools, but falls short of providing additional funds for preschool education which was triggered due to the legislature fully funding the foundation formula last year. It's way too early to figure out or speculate what K12 schools can expect as an outcome. Much can and will change, but this is the starting point. My personal prediction is flat funding from last year. I hope I'm wrong, but there's just not enough money in Jefferson City. Thanks for reading! As always, leave a comment and let me know what you think! Happy Tuesday! Craig
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AuthorHallsville resident. Foster Parent. School board member. Politico. Jesus Follower. Cardinals Fan #MizzouMade Archives
June 2020
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