Early into summer break, the Eagle Grove Community School District Board of Education met Monday, June 13, 2022 at 6 PM in the Emerson Building to consider an agenda largely related to preparing for the 2022-23 school year. After the call to order and welcome, principals from the elementary, middle school, and high school shared their communications and celebrations, which were ample given the recent school year ending. Some highlights included new school records, community service days, Special Olympics achievements, and awards for excellent behavior.
After routine items and consent agenda approval, the group proceeded toward the full agenda.
In arguably the biggest decision on the agenda, the school board voted unanimously to give Superintendent Jess Toliver the ability to sign employee contracts to secure candidates for teacher positions. Superintendent Toliver cited the loss of two candidates during the period of time between an initial job offer and approval by the School Board. In an increasingly competitive job market for certified teachers, this move does not eliminate the need for School Board approval, but does allow Mr. Toliver to pre-sign contracts so candidates do not slip away to other opportunities while waiting for their offers to be official. Toliver joked, “you’ve never disagreed with my hiring decisions so far,” which was met by chuckles and smiles by a trusting board.
In Superintendent Toliver’s report, he was delighted to share the district’s acceptance in a government grant program to assist teaching associates in becoming certified teachers, as well as helping recent high school graduates in becoming associates. More details will be shared at a later date, and discussion continued around the importance of innovation to recruit and retain staff in such a competitive job market.
Bread and milk bids for the 2022-23 school year were awarded to Bimbo and A&E, both of which are familiar names and current EGCSD contractors for those services.
Changes to the elementary school handbook were approved, with the high school and middle school handbook changes to be discussed at a later date.
While there were no open enrollment applications to approve at this meeting, Superintendent Toliver did report new changes to the laws around open enrollment and recommended the board approve all applications unless class size becomes an issue.
The board chose Thursday, June 30th for their annual Special Meeting for Year End Business, and approved the annual transfer of funds from the general fund to the activities fund for safety equipment.
The board was informed the District Administrative Office will be closed July 1-5, 2022.
Superintendent evaluation materials were disbursed. The materials are due by June 30th, and the evaluation will occur before August.
The group received no public comment cards or ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) COVID relief plan expenditure input.
Other approved items included the 2022 graduation list, the NCCS (North Central Consortium Schools) agreement for alternative school placement, SIAC (School Improvement Advisory Committee) recommendations, one early graduation request, elevator addition change orders, and increased substitute teacher daily rates.
