The Perry County District 32 board spent a large majority of its latest meeting hearing the state of its district on Feb. 14.
Teachers and administrators spent time informing the board reports, outlining their building’s current attendance, Math and ELA strategies to reach building level growth projections. Couple with that Jane Narrow, Megan Roth and Rebecca Kemp presented various charts and graphs that demonstrated NWEA data and its application to instruction.
The board also was guided on ways to improve its CSIP plan.
Dr. James Welker, Ed.D., Director, Southeast Regional Professional Development Center attended the board meeting. Dr. Welker’s expertise in strategic planning to sustain continuous improvement in our school, is a welcomed addition, as PCSD 32 reviews and revise their current CSIP. In addition, MSIP6 stresses the need for districts to ...adopt, monitor and annually review the implementation and outcomes of the CSIP that focuses on school performance and improvement.
The meeting wasn’t all about curriculum as Dr. Fara Jones, the district superintendent talked money as well. She discussed amending the budget to reflect now-known totals. Jones noted that when making amendments to revenues, the board should consider increased budget accuracy, strategic opportunities and informed decision-making. The board approved Dr. Jones’s recommendation to amend the Prop C Revenue budget to reflect $2.8 million, the Classroom Trust Fund Revenue budget to $864,418, the Basic Formula Revenue budget to $4.3 million, the Cares-ESSER II Revenue budget to actual $68,783, the ARP-ESSER III Revenue budget to actual $12,005.28, and the Sale of Buildings and Trades House Revenue budget to actual $269,175 in the 2023-2024 school year budget.
She also noted that there will be no changes to the district’s rates for medical insurance. There were also no changes the year prior.
Dan Oberkirsch updated the board on the current progress being made to the campus drinking water, in response to the new Get the Lead Out of School Drinking Water Act of 2022. He had informed them that second water sampling has been completed and results are expected soon. Once the results are confirmed, we can begin the process of identifying the exact countermeasures needed. In January, an independent lab tested more than 300 water sources (which included kitchen sinks, handwashing sinks, dishwashers, water fountains and bottle fillers, ice makers, etc.). The statute dictates that each drinking/cooking water source has lead concentration of less than 5 ppb. In total, 30 of 327 sources, or 9% of sources, indicated lead in excess of 5 ppb, with a large majority being in the Old Senior High and High School Buildigs.
“That was to be expected,” Oberkirsch said. “Those are the two oldest buildings on campus.”
The board also revisited a previous discussion on allowing video recording of open session meetings and archiving them for future viewing. The board voted 4-3, to record the open session and archived for future viewing. The start date is unknown at this time.
