The GFW School Board held a regular meeting on Monday, October 21, 2024. A summary of the meeting is below.
Watch the meeting on YouTube:
Superintendent’s Report
Dr. Smith shared updates about the upcoming MSBA Conference for board members to attend with lots of great sessions provided. He shared updates on enrollment and hiring with the business manager position being posted with hopes to hire someone in early January. A Spanish teacher position has also been reposted. The school is currently doing Spanish classes online and it is going very well with a teacher that assists online along with support in the district.
He also shared that the district has ordered some furniture for current classrooms to pilot different options ahead of opening the new school facility next year. The new furniture is in rooms for students and teachers to be able to test them out. The district also worked to upgrade security cameras at both buildings with a new unit being leased ahead of the transition to the new school. These upgrades were paid for with safe schools dollars.
A community member asked if the district plans to do a time capsule at the new school so the district will be working with local historical societies and groups to pull together items.
School Reports
Principal Jacobson shared updates from the middle school and high school. There are efforts focused on building relationships with students and integrating a new social studies curriculum. The school is also rolling out Schoology, a platform for students and teachers to use for personalized instruction, performance tracking, and communication. This program is an effort to bring everyone together in one system instead of using a variety of tools.
Staff are also using Frontline for goals and evaluations as well as identifying professional development they want to pursue. Teachers continue to explore ways to use technology and artificial intelligence in the classroom. Students are also taking part in PBIS activities and learning how to meet behavior expectations and find ways to explore new activities and take part in reward days.
Students in tenth grade got to take advantage of the Ridgewater Ignite Your Future event where they participated in different hands-on activities focused on a wide variety of career options. There is also a lot of excitement around the new classroom furniture.
Upcoming events include Legally Blonde the musical in November, the FFA National Convention, and NHS Blood Drive.
School Board Reports
Board members shared brief updates from committees.
Business Services
Dr. Smith shared updates that things are going well with expenses continuing to grow with the building construction project getting more in depth.
Consent Agenda, Resolutions and Action Items
The board approved the consent agenda.
The board approved a resolution to set a date to certify the election results after the Nov. 5 election.
The board will canvas the election results on Friday, Nov. 8 at 8:30 a.m.
The board approved additional hours for Dashir for cleaning and maintenance services. Dr. Smith recommended adding 32 hours to give Mr. Weir flexibility in how to coordinate and use resources as he sees appropriate which the board approved.
The board discussed future meeting dates for the rest of 2024.