School Board meeting recap

by Cole Arndorfer
 
The Grain Valley Schools Board of Education met on Thursday, March 14th for its monthly business meeting.
 
To start the meeting, the board recognized boys and girls wrestling state qualifiers. Ten qualifiers were recognized as well as coach Donald Horner.
 
Girls swim and dive state qualifiers were then recognized.  11 qualifiers and head coach Julie Reilly were honored by the board.
 
Following recognitions, the board moved into reports starting with the teacher salary and benefits report from Kourtney Michael and Michelle Kennedy of the Salary and Benefits Committee. Kennedy told the board that the committee is proposing reclassifying leave and increasing payout for leave.
 
Currently, staff members are given nine sick days and three personal days each year. By reclassifying leave, the committee would like to drop the designation of “sick days” or “personal days,” leaving staff members with 12 days of paid leave each year. Kennedy emphasized that the committee is not asking the board for more days off, rather just dropping the classifications of the existing days.
 
As for the increased payout for leave, the current payout is $60 per day. Michael said that the committee is proposing an increase in that payout to $180. The goal of this is to make those saved leave days a financial benefit to teachers rather than it being more of a benefit to use all of them, thus creating a strain on the substitute needs in buildings.
 
Following this, Superintendent Dr. Brad Welle gave his monthly report to the board. Welle opened by highlighting the fact that the April 2 election including the district’s tax levy measure is quickly approaching. Welle said that the feedback they have received from the public so far has been positive in nature.
 
Welle also reported the high school is looking forward to taking possession of the new weight room in April. When the high school moves into the new weight room, the current temporary weight room will be updated into the new varsity locker room.
 
Welle also raised school lunch debt for discussion. The board as well as Dr. Gooch will be brainstorming ideas to help lower the debt in this area.
 
Finally, Welle highlighted the safety audit. Certain findings were highlighted and at a future meeting the board will attempt to have a representative present to go over the findings in depth and answer questions from the board.
 
Next, the board moved into unfinished business with an action item on the board scholarships for this year. After reading through 48 applications, 16 winners were chosen and the board approved 16 awards of $1,000 scholarships. The winners will be announced in a ceremony in the spring.
 
Then the board moved into new business. The first item in this section was the intent resolution of $3 million. Dr. Welle explained that with the passage of this item, the board is essentially giving consent to administration to continue paying for the projects around the district with the understanding that they will issue $10 million in bonds in April.
 
The next item in new business was the setting of the preliminary non-binding tax rate. Welle explained that this is something that is required of the board by Jackson County and it will not necessarily be the binding tax rate that will be set in the fall. The board set this initial rate at the 2023 tax rate with the understanding that it will likely change by the time they are required to set it in the fall.
 
The third item under new business was an action item to commission a demographic study by Business Information Services LLC. This item was approved.
 
The final item under new business was a discussion over the 2024-2025 budget projection. The board was presented with an outline of expenses the district knew they were going to incur such as the need for a new custodian at the high school, increases to teacher salaries, and the addition of various safety upgrades. Some of these items the district is unsure of the dollar amount at this time, but the goal is for the board to receive a solid idea of the budget proposal as soon as April before the final vote at the end of June.
 
Following new business, the board moved into the board policies section. In this section, the board heard the third read on a series of policies recommended by the Missouri School Boards’ Association. The main updates in these policies are to reflect the changes in laws regarding medical marijuana. The general theme for these policies is that whether one is a staff member, student, or visitor, they are not to be in possession or under the influence of drugs. This series of policies was approved.
 
Following this, the board moved into executive session. The next Board of Education meeting will be held on Thursday, April 18, at 6 pm in the Leadership Center.