Geez. It's been a busy time within all of our home lives and at the school board lately. Since my last post, we've held two work sessions with Klingner & Associates about a bond in April 2018 and a regular board meeting. This is good news though, there's lots going on within our district. Marci Minor has put together a wonderful synopsis of our 3 and a half hour regular meeting which was packed. Here is the link for the play-by-play of our super long meeting. Shout out and thank you to Marci for this great read! What I want to focus on is a few things: 1) 2018 Bond 2) Student Representative Trial 3) Administrative Staffing Starting with the April 2018 bond, it is beginning to take shape! After two sessions with Klingner, the board is getting closer to what we'd like to put on the ballot for voter consideration. Our priority has continued to be to eliminate overcrowdedness at the Intermediate school by moving the 2nd grade to the Primary School. We also are in need of a gymnasium at the Primary Building, which currently has a 'cafenasium' which is already inadequate for PE for Kindergarten and 1st grade, let alone adding 2nd grade to the building. We're also interested in planning for growth as a district if possible by potentially adding two sets of two classrooms onto each of the current wings of the Primary School. Lastly, our priority would also be to do some minor updates across the campus. It's my priority to also save some bonding capacity for renovations at the Middle School. Klingner gave us a phased approach of how to replace our Middle School that the district could consider in a few years as our bonding capacity would open up again. You can see the Klingner documents presented and discussed at the Work Session below in the PDF. I'm happy to answer specific questions, but the board will have another Work Session with Klingner on January 8th for what we expect to be really close to a final product of what we would be asking voters for approval for. 2) One of my interests has been to involve students in the learning and discussions of the school board. I met with a student, Jacob Harmon, who is a junior who mentioned this idea to Mr. Cooley last year, before I was elected. After a brief discussion with the board, I recommended that for the rest of the school year (starting January-May), that we allow Jacob to be our student representative as a trial to see if it is something that could work within Hallsville. We would reevaluate as a board after the trial period if we'd like to continue. Of course, he would be nonvoting and not participate in closed session. I'm excited to see where this could lead and to have the input of a student. 3) Administrative Staffing isn't new to my blog, so I wanted to provide an update on where we are. There are a few facts that we need to consider first: the amount of paperwork that must be completed by administrators and teachers isn't decreasing, as our free-and-reduced lunch population increases within the district, administrators will need to help teachers and staff implement curriculum alterations, keep up with standardized testing changes, and lead in our growing district. Options on the table for discussion can be found here. No decision has been made in how we move forward and the board is cognizant of a few moving parts that will likely need to be worked out in the next month to 6 weeks if any changes will be made in the coming academic year (2018-2019). These moving parts are related to whether or not the district decides to change strategies regarding cleaning and facilities services. However, when the board does make a decision on this, I want to reassure the district that we have considered the costs financially of how this will impact our budget. It's important to remember that our operating tax levy that we just increased will likely need to be increased in the next 5 years to ensure our reserves stay at appropriate levels and provide funds for increased costs, regardless of whether the administrative structure is changed or not. These are just three highlights from a very in-depth meeting on Tuesday. The future of our district is really bright. I'm excited to see what's to come and grateful for the opportunity to help our district move forward. Blessings, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to you and your family! Until next time, Craig PS: Please come to our January 8th Work Session!! :)
2 Comments
Jon Bequette
12/22/2017 01:33:05 pm
This is a great synopsis. One small typo - the student rep will be a non voting member and will _not_ participate in closed session discussion.
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Craig
12/23/2017 07:25:57 am
Thanks, Jon! I've made the correction. Of course, you are right -- it was a typo. :)
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AuthorHallsville resident. Foster Parent. School board member. Politico. Jesus Follower. Cardinals Fan #MizzouMade Archives
June 2020
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