School Calendars, Bond Construction Updates, Climate Surveys, Recognitions, Grants/Donations1/27/2019 Read Time: 5 Minutes
Super busy meeting this last week. You can see the full agenda and documents at this link. I'll cover things in a random order. First, we approved the school calendar for the 2019-2020 school calendar. You can find it here. My "color commentary" here is that Mr. Downs indicated that the administrative team will solicit feedback and conversations in the next several months around the 2020-2021 school calendar. More districts, most recently, Warrenton, are moving to a 4-day school week. Since the district hasn't had substantive conversation around this in the last few years, he said it is worth investigating to see if it's feasible and a good idea. There are lots of websites on the pros and cons out there. I will let you all google those. I offer these two links on background (NCSL) and a "primer" on the research that is out there from the Journalists' Resource, Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center and the Carnegie-Knight Initiative. For me to understand and be convinced it could be a good idea, I need to ensure and be convinced that (1) academic achievement isn't/won't be impacted (2) those of lower socioeconomic status do not feel more household pressure around family food insecurity or childcare worries, and (3) that it would have a significant (positive) impact on morale around the staff and community, Definitely more to come here so be on the lookout for opportunities to provide feedback to the district. For bond construction updates, we had SM Wilson (our construction manager at-risk) and our architects (Klingner) on hand to provide some feedback. As a board, we gave them direction to continue to draw schematics of: the 6-classroom addition and the full-size gymnasium with two smaller locker rooms to be drawn and submitted as a bid-alternate. The board approved the 'orange' line in the budget. This moves the project along. The storm shelter remains involved, with the storm shelter being split partially in the gym area and the hallway of the additional classrooms. The tentative timeline still is hopefully to put things out for bid in the April-May timeframe. Myself, or any other board member, is happy to answer any questions as the project continues. The board remains confident that the project will be on-budget and has taken SM Wilson's advice on various contingency funds. The board approved the annual Climate Survey results from this year. After going through this a few times, I've learned a few things. First, relatively minor movements (less than .20 either way + or -) are probably not statistically significant. Movements larger than .20 either way are worth noting and could show a trend. Second, that the admin team takes this data, reviews, and shows area for growth at all levels---and so seeing change does take time. Next, I've learned that this data is a decent snapshot in time, and that while it's easy to focus on changes, keeping in mind anything above a "3" is that the respondent agrees with the statement in some manner. Lastly, I think it's interesting to note that these climate survey responses are important because they are non-attributable to respondents and that response rates with these surveys are pretty high. While we always want more data, it's a good snapshot. I encourage everyone to take a look at the survey results with these things in mind. :) The board accepted a generous donation from the PTO for a Google Chrome cart. We also recognized Mrs. Terry from the Intermediate school and appreciated her attendance to thank her for going above and beyond. We also recognized and appreciate the work of those who helped clean/clear the school after the massive snowfall a few weeks ago. Those names and more are in the district reports--Thank you! Related, we accepted a grant and approved expenses regarding Career & Technical Enhancement work. The grant would pay for ~$21,000 worth of items from laptops to bandsaws/welders and the district match is ~$8,000. We also gave approval to submit a E-Rate project for infrastructure needs for the computer network. The project was approved but would not be funded unless our E-Rate matching federal funds are accepted. I figured it's worth clarifying...because the total project price of more than $100,000 is not all district funds. Those of you who watch board meeting calendars/agendas closely probably noticed that we did have a very (very) short meeting on January 18th. We met and approved the slate of three candidates for April's ballot. I think the meeting lasted less than 5 minutes. I was back home within 20 minutes of leaving. :) On the school board meeting agendas, you will also see a special meeting that was scheduled for January 22nd. That meeting was canceled and no meeting took place. Whew. I think that's all for now. It was a busy meeting and month! Please reach out if you have any additional questions. As always, thank you for reading! Until next time, 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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