Board of Education meeting recap

by Cole Arndorfer
 
The Grain Valley Schools Board of Education met on Thursday, July 18th for their monthly business meeting.
 
The board kicked off the meeting by recognizing the Special Olympics smedalists from this year.
 
Superintendent Dr. Brad Welle began his monthly report by talking about the new Parent Square communication tool the district is implementing. Welle then discussed some contingency provisions as phase six of construction on the high school is nearing completion. Some projects with options to be completed include improving lighting at the playground at Sni-A-Bar Elementary, window film updates, new classroom communication options, and security upgrades.
 
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Amanda Allen then gave a report over summer school this year. Allen said that summer school enrollment had increased to an all-time high, as did the amount of positive feedback that was received in various areas such as experience and pick up and drop off.
 
Moving forward, Welle went over the exit interview summary for faculty and staff not returning to the district for the upcoming school year. The district had 24 teacher resignations, which is down from 32 last year. Of those 24 resignations, the district received 19 responses on exit survey forms. Welle said feedback on these forms is very important for future recruiting and retention purposes as they show what needs improvement and what is going well.
 
Allen then spoke on the district’s updated communications plan. One big goal of that plan is an updated “work for us” page online. Another important update is new crisis scripts. These are templates the district can use to make statements on certain situations very quickly.
 
The board moved onto unfinished business with an action item over the school board meeting calendar for the upcoming school year. The board approved the calendar that was set forth in front of them.
 
This brought the board to new business. The first item was approved to add two new paraprofessionals for the upcoming school year.
 
The board then approved adding a 0.2 occupational therapist position for the upcoming school year. Welle said that this brings one of the district’s current occupational therapists from a 0.8 to a 1.0.
 
Under board policies, the board looked at a multitude of policies for review and to be brought back at the next meeting.
​
The next Board of Education meeting will take place on August 15th at 6:00pm at the district’s  Leadership Center.