On Monday (Feb 19th), the Hallsville School Board met and if you read one thing -- rest assured that there's no winter slow down happening within the Board! You can find the agenda here. Mrs. Minor's report can be found here on the district website. We are gearing up for Proposition 2, our no-tax increase bond initiative in addition to moving forward with our regular agenda items.
The Evaluations of Programs are good reads and always provide a good SWOT analysis. The Vocational programs evaluation is full of depth and highlights the successes of our programs. The gifted program was completed by Mrs. Bennett and Superintendent Downs reiterated his belief and desire to continue the gifted program and that surrounding districts have offered to assist in this regard as we work to conclude this year. We approved the contract for food services, which now goes to DESE for approval. Related to contacts, we also approved a contract to do asphalt repair work across the campuses. This work is anticipated to be completed during the Spring Break week. We discussed and approved the use of a "Seal of Biliteracy" which was presented to us by Mrs. Vollrath. This will provide a seal on their high school diploma for students who meet various qualifications. The most active discussion was around the Climate Survey. We tabled this discussion from last month because we got the information about 24-hours before the meeting -- not enough time to fully digest it. These surveys are good, but have limitations. Different students respond each year (it's done by grade level) in addition to very few high school parents respond (only 11 responded!). It's a good measure but must be accepted with some caution and not as the 'Gospel truth.' I am more concerned about longitudinal changes (over 3-4 years) rather than a year-over-year increase or decrease. There may be some modifications to the survey next year, Mrs. Minor and Superintendent Downs reported, to try to fix some of these survey concerns. That said, the board did take some time to discuss a few of the major changes in scoring. Jacob Harmon, our student representative, continues to sit with the board. He is working with Mr. Cooley, Mrs. Minor, and others to analyze the climate survey and it was wonderful to receive communication from him prior to the meetings with some great questions! If you haven't liked the "All In For Indians" facebook page -- please do so! Also, the main webpage is www.all-indians.org. Stay informed and consider getting involved to help pass the bond initiative that won't impact your tax bill at all. Election day will be here before we know it. There's lots of discussion at national levels about safety and schools. The education community nationwide hurts in a unique way when there's a tragedy like what happened in Parkland, Florida. As a board member, I recognize the tension here. Our society yearns for access, inclusion, and activity with the community but must balance this with the safety of our children. I'm thankful our Hallsville community has stayed above the fray of this school safety debate. All of us must be watchful for things out of the norm and report those concerns. Does this mean we live in a state of anxiousness in our daily lives? I hope not. If we do, then the terror, fear, and anger win. One of the best things we can do in these situations is to sit down with someone who disagrees with us, listen, get to know them as a person, think twice before engaging in a social media debate, and recognize each of us have different points of view, and that's where the beauty of humanity can be found.....but the worst in humanity can be found in these conversations if we aren't extremely careful. Thanks for reading and while there's no major 'bombshell' items on this month's agenda, we had good discussion, a good turnout, and are thankful for the support of our community! As always, please reach out if you have any questions!
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AuthorHallsville resident. Foster Parent. School board member. Politico. Jesus Follower. Cardinals Fan #MizzouMade Archives
June 2020
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