MSBA Conference: Special Education Refresher, State Budget Update, Homeless Students, & More!9/30/2019 For the third time, I've been fortunate enough to represent Hallsville at the Missouri School Board Association's Annual Meeting. You all know me well enough by now (I hope!) that I really enjoy these policy things.
It started on Friday, where I attended a breakout on the "ABC's of Special Education." This was led by two attorneys, and I found it incredibly useful. From discussing individualized educational plans (IEPs), behavioral interventions, child find (locating, evaluating, helping, children with disabilities), or lease restrictive environments, I found this incredibly helpful. It's so important that board members stay updated and not forget about the 10-15% of our student population who participate have IEPs or 504 plans. Then, I nerded out a bit, going to a packed room with Jim Moody presenting on the budget outlook for the state. I won't bore you here except with one takeaway. I watch the state budget closely with my day-job, and on the surface, it looks like we're doing really good (up 7% from year-over-year). Jim cautioned us, reminding us that last year's budget cycle was not normal and he does not expect us to hit consensus revenue estimates at this time. Consensus revenue estimates is the process where the state predicts what growth we will have as a tax base. The last morning session that I attended was put on by DESE, where they went through (very briefly and quickly) their initiatives that included the Biliteracy seal (which we participate in!), MSIP 6, teacher externships, computer science standards, their visiting scholar's teaching certificate, and the trauma schools initiative. I always enjoy the general sessions, and we had a dynamic speaker (as always). Before this, though, Gov. Parson attended and spoke to attendees. During the afternoon, we had a conversation with the state board of education members. It was great to have so many (5) of them in attendance! They discussed concerns around teacher retention, salaries, the school safety task force, MSIP 6, and the culture around teaching. For the culture, the board members noted a survey where the majority of parents do not want their kids to become teachers---which is a first in the survey's history. This shows a lack of respect and/or appreciation for teaching among our broader culture and is problematic. Late afternoon on Friday, MSBA delegates approved the legislative platform for MSBA to advocate on. You can find that document here. On Saturday, I attended sessions on the McKinney-Vento Act, how districts are to treat homeless students. This session was super informative and sadly, did not have many attendees. This article that says that we've (as a state) seen an increase of 3-fold over the past 5 years was the reason I wanted to attend the session. I also attended a session with a colleague on preventing child sexual abuse and will encourage as a part of the PD for the future that we consider bringing the Stewards of Children in to our district to be trained on identifying and preventing child sexual abuse. I took this training as a foster parent and found it useful. The panel discussed the importance of talking and being proactive about preventing child sexual abuse---obviously a topic nobody wants to talk about---but is so needed. At lunch on Saturday, I sat next to the board members and superintendent of Palmyra. It was good to chat with and meet them. I'm grateful for this experience, for continuing my own education to better myself as a board member on behalf of our district. Our next board meeting is Oct 21 at 6PM. Until next time, thank you for reading! Craig
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September's board meeting was last week. The agenda wasn't fairly lengthy, but I wanted to point out a few things.
First, we saw first the first pass of our fall 2019 enrollment numbers as a district. Year-over-year, we're looking at approximately 30 more children. This expected increase comes after graduating a smaller-than-average class and an expected kindergarten class size of approximately 115 children. You can find this full report of enrollment here, but it appears as though our best guess is that our district average daily attendance will end at about 1345 (97% of our ADA). We continue to grow as a community, and this is exciting! The board heard from SM Wilson and Klingner updates on the primary school project. You can find that full report here. There are photos, an update, and how/what was requested to be paid. I was at the school today and it was exciting to see the work being done. We're on schedule. We have had to use the contingency fund this month for mitigation of unexpected expenses. These relatively small amounts (totaling $3,500) are something we're watching closely, but have built in a contingency for these kinds of things. We approved the surplussing of the old vans and some of the budget savings we are not using on a bus lease payment to purchase a bit more updated maintenance vehicles (used). The vans we currently own are 1990 and 1992 vehicles. This is badly needed. Additionally, I just will make note that we had a first-reading of several policies that are in need of being adopted due to legislation that was passed. We'll second-read them in October. We are tweaking the district use facilities policy as well. You can find those on the meeting page here. Before I address a potential 'elephant' -- I will be spending this weekend at the MSBA (Missouri School Board Association) Annual Meeting as our district's representative. I enjoy this stuff and will be rooting on our football team in Hallsville purple all weekend from afar. I'll also probably try to blog a post from the meeting. The meeting begins first thing Friday and continues through Saturday. Okay, the four-day (4-day) school week. The staff received a survey a few weeks ago and parents received a survey within the past week. The board will have to adjust the 2020-2021 school calendar due to legislation passed in May and signed into law. Essentially, district will no longer be able to start school before 14 days before Labor Day. However, even prior to this law-change---back in January---you can see here that I wrote that this discussion would be happening and the community would have opportunity for input. I encourage you to (if you're a parent) fill out the survey and stay tuned for more discussion on this topic. I've never shied away from sharing my opinion, and I will say that I'm still not convinced it's the best decision for children and students. That doesn't mean there aren't decent arguments will around staff retention and morale and such. This will be an interesting conversation and I encourage the entire community to stay informed and share thoughts with board members and the admin team through the surveys that are sent out. Until next time, thank you for reading! Please let me know if you have any questions. Craig |
AuthorHallsville resident. Foster Parent. School board member. Politico. Jesus Follower. Cardinals Fan #MizzouMade Archives
June 2020
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