Nodaway Valley school board reorganizes with new members

FONTANELLE — Three new members joined the Nodaway Valley school board Wednesday, Dec. 8 during the group’s regular meeting.

Molly Herrick, Kristen Jensen and Daniel Shilling were each sworn in as new members, joining existing members Susan Stevens and Adam Woosley at the board table going forward.

Stevens was appointed board president and Jensen vice president for the 2022 calendar year.

Regular meetings will be 5 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month, alternating between the high school and middle school libraries. The board would also like to hold meetings in Bridgewater again in the future.

“I think we’re going to work together well and learn together as we go along,” Stevens said in a phone interview the morning after the meeting.

Stevens said each board member will be bringing to the January meeting two or three focal points, goals or questions they have and the group plans to review those.

The group also took considerable time discussing the roles of a school board.

Superintendent Paul Croghan said school boards aren’t management boards, they’re governing boards.

In setting committees for the upcoming year, the board decided to make community relations a team effort and reviewed a guide for addressing concerns from parents, community members and co-workers.

“The way that is structured makes it very important that patrons follow the chain of command in education. We want to always address [questions or concerns] at the lowest level, closest to the issue, so we can resolve it or find a resolution as soon as possible so that nothing gets lost in interpretation,” Croghan said. “Sit down and have a conversation with the teacher, coach or sponsor first, building principal, AD, transportation director or superintendent before the school board. If they do it in that order, a lot of times issues will be taken care of and we can do a better job of what we’re here for, and that’s educating students.”

Croghan said that having such a young board reminds him of his days coaching football and basketball in that it’s important to remind people of the “why” behind how things need to be done.

“If you explain the details of the ‘why,’ every season becomes a successful season. My approach is that we’re going to explain the ‘why’ to our board members so that they have a starting point or understanding of why schools are operated the way they are, what are their funding sources, what are their restrictions and what are the differences between legislative law and administrative rules,” Croghan said. “It’s also very important for me as a superintendent that I know that and understand it.”

In other business during the organizational meeting, the board:

• Approved the hire of Abbey Queck as middle school assistant girls’ basketball coach; Alvin Eldridge as high school custodian; Shelby Harvey-Mullen as an elementary para; and Amy DeVault as a high school assistant girls’ track coach. Approved the resignations of Tim Bakerink, high school custodian; and Naela Thornton, middle school girls’ assistant basketball coach.

• Approved Paul Croghan, James Larson, Gerry Miller, Karen Schulteis, Keith Kiburz, Janell Stender, Susan Stevens, Molly Herrick, Brandi Burnside, Lori Miller, Michael Christofferson, Sami Harris, Abbey Queck, Grace Gebbie and Amy DeVault to the 2021-22 wellness committee.

• Approved the SBRC request for modified supplemental amount - open enrollment and the SBRC request for modified supplement amount - at risk/drop-out prevention.

• Approved a grouping of 500-series board policies .

• Approved a bus lease for Thomas Bus for two buses for three years starting July 2022. The finance amount is $237,316, the interest rate is 4.02467%, and three equal payments are $38,407.54. Total miles per bus is 51,000.

• Appointed Amanda Summers as the board secretary and treasurer, adopted the annual depository reolution and authorized Stevens to be a signer on district bank accounts.

• Appointed the Adair County Free Press and Fontanelle Observer as the school’s official newspapers.

• Appointed Ahlers and Cooney as the district’s school attorney.

• Approved Woosley and Shilling to audit bills; Jensen and Herrick to the negotiations committee; Woosley and Herrick to the building and grounds committee; Stevens to the delegate assembly committee; and Herrick and Stevens to the wellness committee.

• Approved a social worker