Greene County High School freshmen and sophomores will be able to reap the benefits of the Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates (iJAG) career readiness program beginning in the third trimester of this school year.
The Greene County Schools retiring board of education at its Nov. 15 meeting approved a memorandum of understanding expanding the program, which is already available to students in grades 11-12. The program includes essential concepts of career readiness, character and self-development, communication, technology, critical thinking, productivity, life skills, self-advocacy, conflict resolution and work-based learning, explained school superintendent Tim Christensen.
The program receives considerable state funding. The cost to the district now, including a fulltime staff person, is $20,000. Total cost of the program is $70,000. The district will incur no cost in piloting the program for grades 9-10 this year.
The program is intended for students who are at risk of not graduating from high school and is funded with drop-out prevention funds. According to Christensen, high school staff is concerned that by time students are identified for the program as juniors, “sometimes we’ve missed them. If we can catch them in ninth grade and start getting these skills… the sooner we can start teaching these skills to kids, the better off they’ll be.”
With the approval of the board, Christensen intends to hire someone for the position before the Christmas break and have that person start meeting students in January. The 9-10 iJAG program would be in the class schedule for the third trimester.
The retiring board also heard an update from Nate Adams of NGA Ventures LLC, the developer who plans to repurpose the old Jefferson high school (most recently the middle school) as apartments.
Adams told the board that if all outstanding grant applications are approved, the $6 million project will be fully funded. He told the board he is currently “navigating those pieces of the puzzle.” He is still waiting to hear if the building qualifies for state and federal historic tax credits, which account for 30-35 percent of the total funding.
The school board agreed last March to demolish the attached gymnasium, which does not meet the criteria as historic. The gym is being left intact until final approval of federal historic tax credits is received, probably next April. NGA Ventures and the school district will then close on the purchase agreement for the property and the gym will be razed.
Adams said he’s received “pretty generally good news” on funding and that the project is “on track with the timeline we’ve been communicating.”
The timeline calls for construction to begin in June.
The retiring board also agreed to update the policy dealing with voluntary retirement. It will not be used this year, but Christensen said the policy, which was written in 2008, needs to be revised. Board president Dr Steve Karber explained that language concerning early retirement for administrators and clarification of when the policy will be used need to be added. The new board’s negotiating committee will work with the Greene County Education Association on the revision.
The retiring board approved the canvass of votes from the Nov. 2, 2021 election as presented by board secretary Brenda Muir.
At the conclusion of the meeting of the retiring board, Christensen thanked outgoing board members Karber, Mike Dennhardt and Catherine Wilson and presented them with plaques. “It’s been a challenge but it’s also been a great time. We’ve seen a lot of progress,” Karber said.
The organizational meeting of the new board was then called to order and the oath of office was given to Cindi Daubendiek, Michelle Fields and Bonnie Silbaugh. The board next elected Steve Fisher as president and John McConnell as vice president.
The first business the new board conducted was to set the time and place of regular meetings. The board will no longer hold a work session prior to the regular meeting as has been the practice the past several years.
The work session often served as a time for the board to receive information and to reach consensus on items listed on the regular meeting agenda. That shortened regular meetings. However, when the work session concluded early, board members and administrators had down time before the regular meeting could begin. Eliminating the work session will likely lead to longer meetings, but total time spent may be less.
Board committee assignments were made as follows: county assessor’s conference board, Fisher; park and recreation board, Daubendiek; negotiations, McConnell and Silbaugh; classified/administrative salaries, Fields and Fisher; School Improvement Advisory Committee, Fields and Daubendiek; school foundation, Silbaugh; facilities, McConnell; insurance, Fisher; scholarships, McConnell and Daubendiek; and wellness, Fields and Silbaugh. Fisher will be the Iowa Association of School Boards convention delegate.
Since the discussion at the October regular meeting of the need to review graduation requirements and move from two diploma options to only one, Christensen has recruited high school principal Brian Phillips, high school guidance counselor Allison Wenk, teacher Heath Telleen, and graduating senior Lucy Dudley to serve on a committee to explore the issue. New board members Daubendiek and Fields will serve on the committee as board representatives.
During his monthly report, Christensen said he is finding this school year even more challenging than the 2020-21 school years. “We entered the year in July thinking this year would be better, and it’s more of the same. It’s just hard to dial it back,” he said, and thanked staff for their efforts.
He briefed the board on the OSHA requirement that businesses with more than 100 employees must require employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or wear a mask at all times and be tested for Covid every two weeks. The mandate is the subject of several court cases. It is set to go into effect Dec. 6. Christensen recommended the board delay on making policy until the outcome of the court cases is known.
He suggested that if courts do not issue a stay on the mandate, the board hold a special meeting the morning of Dec. 3 to put needed policies in place. January 4 is the date testing would begin.
Christensen said the first step would be to identify which staff members are not vaccinated. He estimates that about 25 percent of staff is not yet vaccinated.
Regarding a board policy, Christensen said, “it would not be my intent to do anything unless we absolutely have to.”
