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NEVC R-1 Board grapples with school calendar
At its Thursday evening regular meeting, members of the Northeast Vernon County R-1 School District approved a district food service evaluation approved the high school handbook and program of studies, heard plans about summer school, thanked its retiring board president and looked at various school calendars.
On hand and meeting in the school’s cafeteria were board president, Jeanne Hoagland; vice-president, Bill Alexander; secretary, David Bruce; board members Deland Prough, Mike Newman, Connie Gerster; district patron and board candidate Heather Brown; Elementary Principal Kendall Ogburn; High School Principal Chris Hudson and Superintendent Charles Naas. An excused absence was given to board member Scott Pritchett.
“I thought we’d have a pretty easy time tonight in setting next year’s school calendar until Chris (Hudson) walked into my office this morning and told me DESE (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) had just waived the start date requirement,” began Superintendent Naas.
A rule enacted by the Missouri General Assembly states districts can hold their first day of classes no earlier than 10-days prior to Labor Day. Under emergency authority, this provision has been waived for the coming year.
Reviewing five different layouts for the school year a large monitor, Naas said “So we can have a calendar which is pretty much like this year’s or we can look at a modified five-day school week calendar. I say modified because there would be six five-day school weeks and the rest would have four days. But to get to the 1,044 hours of required instruction, you either have to go later in May than we usually do or start earlier. The start date waiver would make it possible for us to dip our toes in, and try a modified five-day week calendar and see what we think.”
Asked to cite points in favor of the modified five-day calendar, Hudson said, “It would give us nearly a PD (professional development) day a month. And because we have a staff which really wants to stretch and grow, those extra days would enable us to bring in some folks to watch teachers in the classroom and then give them pointers on some mindset and teaching strategy changes to promote student engagement.”
Naas said there would be small savings realized by running the busses less days and miles as well as serving fewer meals.
“But I want to emphasize there would be no reduction in personnel or in pay,” said Naas.
Students taking classes at Nevada R-5’s Regional Technical Center (Vo-tech) would still be transported to and from their classes on Mondays, reported Hudson.
After hearing from each person present, the board directed Naas to survey the staff and district patrons. The surveys will be a blend of using the district’s email system and Facebook page and possibly other means as well. The board hopes to hear a report at its next meeting and set the calendar.
In his report, Ogburn said plans for summer school are proceeding. “The deadline for parents to sign up is next Tuesday (May 26). We’d like to have 10-15 students per teacher and an overall attendance of about 30-40 kids,” said Ogburn. We’re planning three classes, one for science, one for math and one for reading. We will serve breakfast and lunch.”
When asked about special health and safety precautions, the principal reported how he and the staff were working to understand the rules and carefully adhere to them. “Though these are young kids and observing some rules will be a challenge, we are committed to do whatever it takes to let these kids come here, not fall back on their reading and math, while safely letting them be with their friends again,” said Ogburn.
As board members reviewed the district’s written evaluation of its food service program, Naas said, “That doesn’t really have much about revenues or expenditures but as it stands right now, we’re about $20,000 down in revenue for food service but we’ve not received all our revenue yet, so once it all comes in we can see where we are and what we need to do for next year.”
In her report, Hudson said a banner depicting the 16 graduates of the Class of 2020 is about to be picked up and soon will be prominently displayed. “As things are opening up, the rules are changing but we’re committed to holding graduation in our gym on Sat., June 27. We hope we won’t need to limit the number of attendees but we’ll see what the rules are as the date gets closer.”
“We offered each student an option about their fourth quarter grades,” said Hudson. “Either it could be the same as their third quarter grade or, they could raise it by completing a work packet from their teacher. We had about 15 or so takers and teachers told me they were pleased with the work turned in.”
In pre-meeting comments, Hudson gave a tip of the hat to her staff. “All of our teachers have tried hard to make and stay in contact with every student. Mrs. McGrath (high school English teacher) is coordinating the production of a good-bye video from staff to all the students. It will on our school’s Facebook page and coming out very soon. She always does a great job and I expect it will make you laugh and cry.”
In his report, Naas said, “This year, June is definitely going to be board meeting month.” After checking schedules and looking at various dates, the board set its reorganization meeting (following the school board election on June 2) for Thurs., June 11. The regular monthly meeting will be held on Fri., June 19 while a meeting to approve the final version of this year’s budget and an initial budget for the coming year is set for Mon., June 29; all meetings will be at 7 a.m.
Naas closed the open session by presenting a plaque to Jeanne Hoagland for her 15 years of service on the board.
In her remarks, Hoagland said, “When I came on the board I told myself, now I have to stop thinking of just my children and think of what’s best for all of the students of this district. As I leave, I’m proud of two things. First, I helped hire Chris (Hudson) and second, I’m proud of this district. People sell small districts short but my own two children and hundreds of others have received and will receive a good education at this district. And so all I can say is, thank you to everyone at NEVC.”