Board of Education meeting recap

​by Cole Arndorfer


​The Grain Valley Schools Board of Education met on Thursday, August 17, for their brief monthly meeting. The meeting included a report on prepaying the district’s series 2019A bonds, a couple new business items, and discussion of three board policies.
 
Under reports, the Board heard a presentation from Wesley Townsend and Brad Wegman of L.J. Hart and Company. The two presented an option to the board to prepay the district’s series 2019A bonds in order to save money in interest. Prepaying the full $3 million amount of the bonds would equal a savings of $225,000 over time. The board elected to go through with the bond prepayment and will pay the full amount on September 1.
 
During the superintendent’s report, Dr. Brad Welle made note that the district is in need of paraprofessionals and custodians as the district is down nine paraprofessionals and eight custodial workers. If the positions go unfilled for the start of the year, paraprofessional positions will be run on a substitute basis with subs filling in to meet the state requirements. Custodians will run on a skeleton crew at night in order to make up their shortage to start and there will be a higher emphasis on daytime cleaning to not overwork that small crew.
 
Following a question from Sarah Swartz on the outcome of the district’s inaugural Back to School Fair, Dr. Amanda Allen said the number of sign-ups was great but the number of attendees was a bit lacking. Allen said that there were over 90 kids that signed up for the fair but just half of those turned out at the event. Overall, Allen called the event a success and hopes that it will gain more traction in the future. For now, the district will hold supplies for the kids that signed up but were unable to come at their respective schools to be sure all kids get what they need.
 
Under new business, the Board reviewed annual CSIP (Comprehensive School Improvement Plan) priorities for the upcoming school year. This was a list of five priorities for the upcoming year. The first priority was to improve early literacy instruction. Dr. Welle said that this is something the district has been trying to hit hard the last few years. Second, was to develop a comprehensive facilities audit and use it to create a long-range facilities plan for the future. The third priority was to look at redefining K-12 processes for assessing behavior. Fourth, developing school and district safety plans that highlights any needed improvements. The last priority was to evaluate local funding options and to propose a levy increase, and timeline for a vote by the district’s patrons.
 
“The last time our levy went to a vote of the people in our community was 2004,” Welle said. “If you think about how our district and our community has changed in the last 20 years, that is a long time.”
 
The board will take these priorities under consideration and bring them back for further discussion at the September meeting.
The second item of new business was adding a new bus aide position for this school year. This is a position that was not budgeted for but was rather found to be a need due to the number of students that need a bus aide and how they fall along the bus routes. The board approved this item and is expected to come back in the coming months with an amendment to the budget reflecting this position.
 
The last portion of the meeting was covering board policies.
 
The first item discussed under board policies was discussed at length in the previous meeting. There were no changes to the policy referring to the acceptance of gifts by staff other than making note that, if offered a gift,  Welle would have to speak with board president, Eddie Saffell, before accepting said gift rather than calling a board meeting. Dr. Welle made sure to point out that he is seldom offered gifts, receiving a chuckle from the board and audience, before saying that this policy is mostly a formality. This policy passed 7-0.
 
The second policy the board discussed was options for professional staff members wishing to resign over the summer months. The specific section of the policy the board discussed was liquidated damages. As the policy states right now, a professional staff member wishing to resign from their contract between June 1 and July 1 is subject to board approval and payment of a $1,000 processing fee. The later a staff member wishes to resign, the higher the fee. Between July 1 and August 1, the fee jumps to $3,000 and for after August 1 the fee is currently $5,000.
 
Welle said that he would have a hard time removing this section from the policy given the teacher shortage at the moment but would be open to any revisions the board may want to discuss. The board discussed adding a clause that would allow the board to waive the fee at their discretion or possibly taking away the tier system that is in place currently or taking it from three tiers to just two.  The board will continue to discuss this item further.
 
The final item in policies is the new MSBA Series 2023B policies. Main changes have to do with instructional practices, interventions, promotion/acceleration, retention, and assessment, as well as adding Holocaust Education Week to the ceremonies and observances calendar. Welle said the board will take time to go through these changes and discuss them the next time they meet.
 
The next school board meeting will take place on September 23 at 6 pm at the Leadership Center.