Board Members:
It has been a very quiet spring break here in the office! I suppose it is warranted after all the activity we had last week! Congratulations to our boys basketball team on a phenomenal run in the state tournament!
I was on hand Wednesday afternoon when the music department returned from their trip. Gauging from how tired everyone looked getting off the bus, it would appear they had a good time!
The spring recess has really provided some much needed interrupted time on the high school renovation project. The library shelves were installed this week and the carpet is ready to be installed at this point. It would appear both the business lab and library/media center will be ready to open, hopefully by the end of next week. In the new addition, the waterproofing was complete and the design lab in the new shop was completed. This follows the pouring of the floor last week. The gym floor has a way to go before it can be poured yet; quite a bit of water came in while we were finishing up the roof and it is still drying out. In all though, you can see notable progress!
I met with Derek Wulf on Monday morning before he headed back to Des Moines. It appears to me that work has slowed down significantly over the last two weeks. There is a significant conflict between the House and Senate on the AEA reform bill, and as a result it looks like the Senate is 'marking time' until they can figure out a pathway forward. Meanwhile, the House has passed SSA, a reform bill for the AEA that, while not great, is at least workable, and a teacher compensation bill. While our budget is largely complete (with unknown variables used as placeholders), we really are in a holding pattern when it comes to negotiating and finalizing teacher contracts. For that matter, all employment contracts are kind of in limbo right now.
I did an interview on KCRG this afternoon regarding school budget timelines and they kind of got my quote wrong. The biggest problem is he claimed I said both our levy rate wouldn't change and we aren't planning any budget cuts. He only got that half right. No budget cuts, but the rate is going to go up. I've asked KCRG to correct the record.
Have a great weekend, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone return next week to restart classes for the final push to the end of the school year. One quarter to go!
Dr. Tony Voss
Superintendent
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