School board meeting recap

​by Cole Arndorfer
 
 
The Grain Valley Schools Board of Education met on December 7 for their monthly meeting. The meeting consisted of recognition for state qualifiers on the swim and dive team, reports on high school construction, tax levy information, CSIP priority progress report, information from the finance committee meeting, and one item under board policies.
 
First, the board recognized the high school swim and dive team and their coach, Julie Reilly. The team had a successful year, breaking seven school records. All three divers finished in the top ten at the state competition; Gage Wright finished third, Kollin Hansuld finished fifth, and Asa Keim finished tenth. As a team, swim and dive finished 18th at the state championships. Reilly was proud of her team’s performance this year and said, “if you didn’t get out and see boys swim and dive this year, you missed the best show in town.”
 
Following the recognition, the board moved into the report portion of the meeting. Spencer Brown and Ben Vanderau from Newkirk Novak gave the board a six-month update on construction at the high school. In their report, they said that the team hit a major milestone recently after completing the roof on the new gym.
 
According to their report, all areas of the project are about two weeks ahead of schedule, meaning the weight room would be completed around mid-April and the gym would be completed by the beginning of August. 
 
Next, the board discussed information for a tax levy ballot issue for the April election. Superintendent Dr. Brad Welle said that the district is recommending to the board a 65-cent operating levy increase, while dropping the debt service tax levy by 40-cents, equating a 25-cent net increase for taxpayers. This increase is expected to generate $3.6 million for the district.
 
The purpose of this increase would be to improve the district’s pay for teachers and other employees, as well as other district needs that will come up closer to April. This item will be brought back as an action item at the board’s January meeting.
 
After the tax levy discussion, Dr. Amanda Allen and Dr. Nick Gooch went over the CSIP priorities progress update. Both Allen and Gooch said that the district is on track to complete, or has completed their priorities for the year. A couple pieces of the priorities will be brought back in the spring, but they feel confident that they will successfully complete them by the end of the year.


Following the CSIP update, Welle directed the board to the finance committee’s recent meeting minutes. The board did not discuss these minutes but Welle wanted to be sure they are kept informed on what the committee discussed.
The final item was under board polices. The board approved a policy that stated in order for a candidate to qualify for school board election, they must have lived within the district for at least one year prior to the election.
 
The board then moved into executive session. The next school board meeting will take place on January 18, 2024 at 6 pm in the Leadership Center.