Board Members:
We are getting to the part of the year where everything starts to come together! It is a very fun time for us with all the activities and events. Fun, but busy! This week we've had a music program, which was great; a middle school track meet (that was a lot of fun for me), a couple of soccer matches and a golf meet or two sprinkled in for good measure.
This week we also finished the bulk of our ISASP testing, it is great to have that behind us. A few students will be doing makeups over the next several days, but we feel really good about how it went. Anytime we introduce a brand new system, especially one as complex as this creates a bit of nervousness. Yesterday I spent time with the high school kids at lunch to ask them how they thought the test went. Surprisingly they thought it was good, wasn't too hard and they thought they did a good job. Students wanted to know how the writing test was going to be scored, when I told them it was going to be scored using AI, they just nodded and thought that made sense. Can you imagine that making sense to you when you were a student? Different world!
On Tuesday I met with a group of superintendents, activity directors, and high school principals to discuss the alignment and possible expansion of the NICL. As you are aware, West Marshall has exercised their right to exit, leaving a vacancy in the west division. There were/are a lot of moving parts when it comes to the makeup of the conference and a lot of strong feelings in discussions like this. Nevertheless, we were able to reach a consensus. The superintendents will take this up at our May 10th meeting.
It appears the legislature is close to winding down. At the writing of this memo (Saturday morning), the legislature is still in Des Moines. They took the rare step of meeting on Friday and are planning to gavel in again this morning around 9:00. This is definitely a sign they are wrapping things up. The big news of the week was the final passage of SAVE. In order to get the bill to the governor, significant compromise was needed, but that is sometimes the way things work. Basically the final bill includes 30% of the revenue going to property tax relief. It is a significant increase, seeing that 2.1% is the current amount going to property tax relief. It won't happen all at once, and there are triggers that need to be met in order for the diversion to happen (and it can only happen in 1% increments). I spoke to Representative Williams earlier in the week, and while disappointed it took such a compromise we both realized the realities of the makeup of each caucus. The silver lining, though is that property taxes should fall. One other bill that we have been watching with interest that appears to have gained support in both chambers was an extension in the time a financial literacy requirement for graduation will go into effect. You will recall we added this course to our graduation requirements a year ago so it didn't impact us all that much. However, they wanted to make the effective date with the class of 2020, which was unworkable not only for us who were ahead of the curve, but every school in the state. Thankfully this was rectified!
Our photo this week features sophomore Kylee Sallee who was our only qualifier at the Drake Relays! This track meet is a very big deal for our student athletes, and in fact I think some of them strive for this honor even more that the state track meet. At this meet, students compete against each other, irregardless of class! Kylee qualified in the long jump and the high jump, and as I understand it, just started high jumping this year! At the writing of this memo, Kylee placed 8th in the long jump! Congratulations to Kylee, and of course her proud parents, Director Sallee and Mrs. Sallee!
Have a great weekend everyone. Dare I say, snow stay away?
Dr. Tony Voss, Superintendent
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