School board meeting recap

by Cole Arndorfer
 
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The Grain Valley Board of Education met on Thursday, September 21. The board began the meeting with a public hearing on the proposed tax rate for the year, led by Assistant Superintendent Dr. Nick Gooch. The board also heard Superintendent Dr. Brad Welle’s report, took action on two items of unfinished business and three items of new business, and took action on two board policies discussed in the previous month’s meeting.
 
In his presentation, Gooch said that the total assessed valuation for the city was $567,445,737, up over $107 million from last years assessed valuation. The proposed rate for this year is 4.4882. This number is comprised of the operating levy, which is proposed to be decreased to 2.7882, and the debt service levy, which would stay the same at 1.70. After no discussion from the board and no public comments, the public hearing was closed and the meeting was called to order.
 
For his report, Welle shared a few highlights from around the district. He talked about the Signs of Suicide program that high school and middle school students participated in on September 13. This program teaches students about the possible signs of suicide in their friends and classmates, as well as when to get help for themselves or others. This has been used by the district for 13 years.
 
Welle also said that the district is finalizing their K-8 fall benchmark assessments, consistent with the CSIP priority on literacy.
 
The final piece of Welle’s report was an update on construction at the high school. Welle said that walls are beginning to go up around the new gymnasium and he is excited to see it starting to take its form.
 
Next in the meeting was unfinished business. The first item on that list was the annual CSIP priorities. There have been no changes to these since the September workshop meeting.
 
“The priorities this year emphasize improving our early literacy skills, assessing the needs of our facilities throughout the district, implementing character education to address student behavior in each of our schools, developing a revised safety and security plan for each of our schools in our district, and provide competitive pay for all employees,” Welle said.
 
The annual priorities were passed unanimously by the board.
 
The last piece of unfinished business was naming the press box at the high school. Welle said that with it being the 100th season of Grain Valley football, the press box will be named after Grain Valley’s most successful head coach, Forrest Rovello. This item was also unanimously passed.
Under new business, the board took action to set the tax levy rate for 2023. The board approved the tax rate and it will be set at 4.4882 for the next year. Changes from assessed valuation appeals was a concern that was brought up by the board. The state has a process set in place in order to recoup any tax dollars that may be lost due to any appeals.
 
The second item was to add two additional full-time paraprofessionals. Welle said that the district does still have a few openings for paraprofessionals but there is still a need to add these extra positions. This item was approved and the budget will be amended in October to reflect these additions.
 
The final item was to live broadcast school board workshops. This item was put on the agenda to set the record straight and clear any confusion by board members. Some of the board members believed that when they voted to allow live broadcasts of board meetings that it also included workshops so they wanted to take a vote on specifically the workshop events.
 
Board Vice President, Jeff Porter, said that he thinks broadcasting the workshops is just as important, if not more important than broadcasting the monthly business meetings. He said that in order for the public to understand what the board is voting on, they must be able to see what is discussed in the workshops. This item was approved 6-1 with the lone “no” vote being from Board President Eddie Saffell.
 
Board policy review was the last item on the agenda. The first policy on the list was on the topic of resignation of professional staff members. This policy was amended slightly to allow the board to waive the fee the staff member must pay to resign late, and the staff member may request in writing to the board to have the fee waived. This policy was approved.
 
The last series of policies the board took action on was the 2023B series policies from the MSBA. No changes have been made to these policies from the previous workshop. These policies were approved.
 
The next board meeting will take place on October 19, at 6 pm in the Leadership Center.