School board meeting recap

​by Cole Arndorfer
 
The Grain Valley Schools Board of Education met on Thursday, May 16th, for its monthly meeting. This month’s meeting was held at Grain Valley High School in conjunction with the Sni Valley Academy graduation. The meeting included recognitions of four high school groups, two reports, and one item under new business.

To start the meeting, the board recognized four high school groups. The first group recognized were members of the high school journalism team, who earned All Missouri Best of Show recently.

The next group was speech and debate state champions and national qualifiers.
 
The third group recognized was Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), which received Chapter of the Year honors. Three members competed at state and also qualified for nationals.

The final group recognized was DECA. Several members competed at the state competition, including two who went on to compete in the DECA Internationals in Anaheim, California.

Following recognitions, the board moved into reports. The first report was the extracurricular program evaluation from High School Activities Director Brandon Hart.

In the beginning of his report, Hart noted that two thirds of the high school population is involved in some sort of activity, whether it be sports, music, or theater. Hart also said that this year, 33 student-athletes have signed to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level.

The high school won its fourth-straight Suburban Conference All-Sports Trophy, while 13 of the schools 20 teams won their conference title.

Hart said that one of the things he is most proud of is the addition of Esports and trap shooting, as well as boys volleyball. He said that the Esports and trap shooting teams have been so successful that they have grown to a point where the coaches have had to stop recruiting kids to join.

Hart said that the activities department has goals to expand in social media as well as getting moved into the new facilities that are opening on the high school campus.

Next, Dr. Brad Welle shared the superintendent's report. In his report, Welle highlighted that the board’s community engagement plan had been shared through various methods of social media and emailed to all the district’s parents and had been receiving positive feedback.

The board then moved into new business, where the board approved the hiring of a new technology field technician.

Due to time constraints with the Sni Valley Academy graduation, the board tabled one item of unfinished business and three items under policies. These items will be brought back at the next meeting.

The board then moved into executive session and the meeting was adjourned. The next Board of Education meeting will take place on Thursday, June 27, at 6 pm in the Leadership Center.