The Greene County School Board held a work session Wednesday night.

The Board developed action plans for its goals for the 2018-19 school year. The first goal the Board reviewed was evaluating and assessing the district’s facilities. The Board wanted to have a ten-year plan in place for each of the facilities, with a list of “wants” to be included for the future as well. The next goal was to find ways to increase interaction and communication between the board and students, staff, parents and the public. The Board determined as its action plan will be to hold two Board Q&A sessions (one in Scranton and Grand Junction), as well as have board members present at parent-teacher conferences and schedule lunch meetings with students in all buildings.

The third goal is creating a district career guidance plan and 100-percent graduation rate. As far as the career guidance plan, Superintendent Tim Christensen informed the Board that Business Education teacher Teresa Green is teaching the careers class to all freshmen and will be updating their profiles every year of high school. The district is also using the free “My Academic Plan” through Iowa State University to help students explore career options. Christensen noted that they also hired a full time alternative school teacher to help with the high school graduation rate.

Another goal the Board had was getting the unspent balance authority up to $1 million in five years. Board Secretary and Business Manager Brenda Muir reported that the district had saved over $900,000 at the end of last year fiscal. An action plan for the Board was to attend financial sessions at the Iowa Association of School Boards Convention in November.

The final goal for the 2018-19 school year was creating an environment that encourages student enrollment while attracting and retaining quality staff. The Board’s action plan was to build the career academy and create a wellness committee, which will help to retain and attract new staff, while doing the same for students. They also thought that Christensen should continue to be present before and after school, and during lunch to talk with teachers in each of the buildings throughout the year.

 

The Board formerly approved the action plan for each goal during the regular meeting, which proceeded the work session on Wednesday.