Board Meetings, Finances and Other Stuff

School Board Meetings

The third Monday of each month is the regular school board meeting.  These meetings are open to the public and I would encourage everyone to attend at some point during the year or more often to stay in touch with what is going on at the school.  The meetings start at 6:30 and take place in the high school media center.  You can see the agenda and attachments for the upcoming meeting at this link.  On the left side is a sidebar with "Upcoming Events"  You can click on that and see what is on the agenda for the next meeting.  As you go through the different pages you can see the attachments for the specific agenda items and also my notes that go with the agenda are available for all to see.  You can also sign up on the same website to receive notifications anytime a meeting is scheduled.

This month we have a full agenda as it's the first meeting after the election so some organizational items will need to be covered.  Here's a direct link to the agenda for your review.  Most things on this month's agenda are pretty routine; however, one item of note is the opportunity to share wrestling with Turkey Valley this school year.  They've been unable to find a coach for their program this year and after talking with Coach Hemann, we feel they would be a great asset to our program.  As you know, we share the superintendent and several other positions with them.  Our partnership with Turkey Valley has been beneficial to both districts.  Both boards are committed to working together in ways that benefit both districts and this is another example of that partnership.  The Turkey Valley board approved it at their meeting last week and our board will address it Monday night at our meeting.  A large benefit of this partnership is the way it helps the financial situation in both districts.

School Finances

September 15th is the day we close the financial books on the last school year.  I am pleased to say that we have improved the district's financial condition this year.  Our solvency ratio has improved and our Unspent Authorized Budget has increased also.  These numbers are important when we borrow the rest of our bonds next spring as these numbers play a role in the interest rate we receive.  They are also important to the stability of the district as we move forward.  The state of Iowa has some financial issues to deal with so state funding is a big question mark right now.  Our current financial condition will help us better deal with the uncertainty that is ahead in state funding.  There will still be tough times ahead of us, but this helps deal with it the best we can.

Other Stuff

The administrators and I are doing a book study of The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros.  This book takes a look at how traditional schools operate and if they are meeting the needs of our students today.  From the back cover:

  

         The traditional system of education requires students to hold their questions and compliantly stick to the scheduled curriculum.  But our job as educators is to provide new and better opportunities for our students.  It's time to recognize that compliance doesn't foster innovation,           encourage critical thinking, or inspire creativity---and those are the skills our students need to succeed.  

We are just getting started, but it looks very interesting and seems relevant to where we are going with Project Based Learning, Midmester Academy, Iowa BIG North, etc.  Here's a link to the author's website if you want to learn more.  Stay tuned as I will be talking more as we get started with our study and discussion.