Board Members:
Well, the week went about as I expected. I ended up staying in Des Moines an extra night and taking a vacation day on Thursday. I saw no real upside to driving back on the roads Wednesday afternoon to only have to turn around and head back to the capital Thursday after school.
My time in Des Moines made for an extremely busy week. The weather calls are always a bit more complicated from 100 miles away! Is everyone as tired of the snow as I am?
Thank you so much for your hard work at the board meeting this past Monday. You accomplished a great deal at this meeting and made some very sound decisions. Considering the calendar adoptions, bond sale paperwork, and FY 2020 budget review, there was quite a bit of heavy lifting. I have also gotten some positive feedback regarding your decision to modify the calendar and the adjustments you made for snow makeup days. Let's just hope our 23.6 (now 16.9) hour cushion holds! We've about got to be to the end of this, right?!
In legislative news this week, the governor signed the funding bills, which was exactly as expected. We are thankful to have this issue resolved and can now move on with finalizing the budget and making staffing decisions for the next school year. There was also a little bit of movement on SAVE this week with a Ways and Means subcommittee taking it up and moving it forward to full committee consideration on a 5-0 vote. We don't anticipate much more action on this until after the first funnel passes. While there are a lot of bills that have been filed this session related to schools, many of them I am not bothering to mention unless I think they begin to gain momentum, are particularly burdensome, or of special interest. This week, SF 326 was introduced by Senator Feenstra. In essence, it would force the shutdown of the IGHSAU and IHSAA and the formation of one umbrella organization. I would be very interested in your thoughts on this.
The photo I am sharing was a great way for me to end my week! After a week of traveling and battling the weather, I had arrived back in my office around 3:05 this afternoon. I had planned to be there just long enough to check messages and check in with the office staff when Mrs. Bistline called down to our office to see if we might be interested in a song. Of course I was! The students came down and sang us an original blues tune to end the day. There may be a student or two that you recognize in the photo!
Have a great weekend!
Dr. Tony Voss, Superintendent
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