August 15, 2024

During the closed executive session of the Board of Education meeting on Thursday, August 15th the board unanimously approved the hiring of Steve Copeland to be the next Director of Maintenance. Mr. Copeland has been serving that same role in the Dunklin R-V School District for many years. He will begin work at Festus in a couple of weeks.

• Teachers and some students were back on campus this week.
• Freshman Kickoff
• Open houses
• Dr. Karen Moffat named Outstanding Biology Teacher for the State of Missouri
• Mason Schirmer named to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro First team for baseball
• Several Festus students participated in Spotlight Community Theater's production of "Newsies" last month.

The board passed the consent agenda with one abstention. Items were:

• June regular session minutes
• Bills payable for the month
• July Financials
• August Ledger Subtotals
• 2024-25 Return to School plan
• Staff and Student flu clinic dates set for September 17 & 24
• Jefferson College ATS Consortium Agreement
• Surplus Items
• 2024-25 School Bus Routes

• Had a great back to school convocation on Thursday
• School starts on Monday
• Next board meeting is Thursday, September 19 at 7pm
• Kudos to Mrs. Gurnow for all of her work getting online registrations processed and approved. As of Thursday afternoon 3001 have submitted online registration with 2981 having submitted proof of residency. Those numbers equate to a larger number of students who have been registered and approved.

SRO Statistics

This is a great partnership.

Annual Secretary of the Board Report - prepared by Mrs.Schraer and ready to be submitted to DESE

Transportation Program Evaluation - The department is understaffed. The are still looking for drivers.

Facilities Report and Recommendations

On Wednesday morning, there was a big water leak at the Early Childhood Center when the waterline in the dishwasher blew out. It blew the panel off the dishwasher and caused the element to explode. There were several inches of water covering four rooms. Clean-up revealed other problems in that area that will also need to be repaired. Four classrooms, the multipurpose room and the unused basement were affected. They will be unavailable for a few weeks while repairs are made. Classrooms and the multipurpose rooms will be the first priority. Insurance will pay for the repairs.

Lots of work completed (or nearing completion) over the summer.

• New HVAC installed in the main 2nd & 3rd grade hallway at the Elementary school. That also resulted in some minor renovations to 18 classrooms in that hallway.
• Classrooms in the stack ups got new cabinets and countertops.
• Tuckpointing was done at the Intermediate School
• Painting to cover the blue on the diamonds on the front of the Intermediate building and on the walls in the cafeteria.
• New HVAC system at the middle school
• Renovations to the multipurpose room and cafeteria at the middle school.
• New office space at the middle school to include a new workroom for faculty
• 4 restrooms at the Middle School were remodeled with new tile, flooring, stalls and fixtures
• 2 middle school rooms were abated and remodeled
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District Literacy Plan for 2024-25 APPROVED - This is required by Senate Bill 681 that requires assessments for students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade to determine if any students are a year or more behind on their reading levels. The District is also required to create a literacy plan.

Tax rate hearing set for September 19 at 7pm prior to the regular board meeting.