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by Cole Arndorfer
The Grain Valley Schools Board of Education met on Thursday, April 18th for their April business meeting. The meeting included three recognitions, discussion on the new safety priorities plan, three reports, three items of unfinished business, and two items of new business. The first recognition was for the high school color guard team. The team won its second consecutive MCCGA state championship this year, competing against over 20 teams at the competition held in Springfield, Missouri. Next, the board recognized Kourtney Michael as the 2023-2024 Grain Valley Schools Teacher of the Year. Michael teaches English Language Arts at Grain Valley High School, as well as being a National Honor Society sponsor. Michael was recognized for the way in which she builds relationships with her students, getting to know each one and the ways in which they best learn. For the final recognition, the board recognized Matt Wilson as the 2023-2024 Support Staff Employee of the Year. Wilson is a paraprofessional for the essential skills and resource classrooms at Matthews Elementary School. “Mr. Wilson works hard each day, helping students to reach their full potential by finding solutions to many challenges that they face,” Superintendent Dr. Brad Welle said. Moving on from recognitions, the board discussed the draft of the new safety priorities plan. In the interest of privacy, the board voted to enter into a temporary executive session to discuss specific details of the plan. After spending nearly an hour in executive session, the board returned and moved onto the curriculum report. The curriculum review committee reported that most of the curriculum, with a few tweaks, is ready for approval from the board. Just two content areas need some additional time to continue working. The board will have time to look over the curriculum before it is brought back at a later date for approval. Following this, Dr. Welle gave the board his monthly report. Welle began with thanking the community for their support, expressing his appreciation for the passing of the new tax levy. New this school year, Welle highlighted, is a “Senior Walk” for high school graduates. Seniors will have the opportunity to walk the halls of their former elementary school, dressed in caps and gowns for a full circle moment of their academic careers. The board also discussed possible solutions for school lunch debt such as text messages to parents and holding students back from some non-mandatory privileges. Next, the board moved into unfinished business, starting with discussion on progress made with the annual priorities. According to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Amanda Allen, the district has made good progress with most of its literacy priorities. The only piece that is lacking is the updated comprehensive literacy plan. The district had a rough draft prepared in October with the understanding that the state would put out guidelines but they have not yet been released. Allen says she sees that being rolled into next year. Assistant Superintdent Dr. Nick Gooch said the priority relating to facility updates will evolve in the next six to twelve months as the district keeps getting new data from its upcoming demography study as well as information from the district’s architecture firm. For the priority regarding constructing a district safety plan, Gooch said that the district is in a good spot, mentioning how the board was able to look over a draft earlier in the meeting. Next steps involve receiving input from community and family members on what is most important to them. The final priority has been completed, and that was the passing of the new tax levy. Next, the board discussed the first look of the 2024-2025 budget. Director of Finance Aaron Hooper presented the draft to the board. Hooper said that the budget is still a work in progress as he is still waiting on numbers from a few departments but will have a final version of the budget ready to go in June. Following this, the board moved into new business. The board began with discussing contract language for administrators for 2024-2025. Welle said that there is not a lot of new information being put into contracts but more rewording certain sections and making sure certain policies are in writing. Next, the board discussed a letter from the board to be included in the next issue of the district’s magazine. The letter from the board president will thank the community for their support on the tax levy vote. It will also highlight some important things that the board has focused on in the past year. Topics such as community engagement, addition of a new school resource officer, the broadcast of meetings, and implementation of engagement committees will all be discussed. The board then moved onto two items of new business that were added via an agenda amendment. The first item related to the purchase of new serving equipment for the cafeteria in the high school. Any revenue generated by the food service department must go back into the purchase of items or upgrades within the food service department. Though there is a large amount of school lunch debt, the rules prohibit using any of this money to offset that debt. Because of this, the purchase of this serving equipment would be funded directly from the excess revenue from the food service department that must be spent on upgrades within that department. The next item was the response from Newkirk Novak on the possibility of these upgrades. Since Newkirk Novak is already in the high school working on the other pieces of construction and remodel, the district reached out to them on their thoughts on the possibility of adding the upgrades to the construction. Newkirk Novak responded with confidence that it would in no way delay the completion date of the project as a whole, Gooch said. Both of the items were passed. Gooch said that the new equipment will be installed and ready before the first day of school in the fall. The next Board of Education meeting will take place at 5:30pm on May 16th in the Jan Reding Community Room at Grain Valley High School.
1 Comment
Gary Beemer
4/25/2024 01:54:05 pm
Though there is a large amount of school lunch debt,‘. Seems like attention to economics/money management should be a compulsory requirement.
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