NV board brought up to speed on O-M sharing

Nodaway Valley Superintendent Paul Croghan brought the board of directors up to speed on the latest sharing talks with Orient-Macksburg during their Wednesday, Oct. 9 meeting at the middle school media center in Fontanelle.

A commitee comprised of board members and administrators was formed last winter, and that committee met earlier this month to look at whole grade sharing options, while Orient-Macksburg still also pursues dissolution. These are separate processes with separate outcomes.

Croghan said if Orient-Macksburg voters were to pass at the polls maps drawn as part of the dissolution process, the whole grade sharing agreement would still happen for at least a year because of how far the districts would be in the budgeting process by March.

The current draft agreement being considered is a one-year, one-way whole grade sharing agreement of preschool through 12th grade, which would send all Orient-Macksburg students to class at Nodaway Valley. The two districts already share on a tuition-in basis. Orient-Macksburg’s high school students attend some classes at Nodaway Valley and some at their own school. Some activities at the middle and high school levels are also shared.

“Why you have to talk about whole grade sharing now is that all the whole grade sharing things have to be approved by the first part of February, so our goal is to get the agreement in December, and then we’ll see it, they’ll approve it in January to be able to meet the February requirement for the following school year,” Croghan said.

One current school of thought at Orient-Macksburg, Croghan said, is for the district to continue with dissolution, and 90% of the territory would go to Nodaway Valley, as calculated by land value. The other 10%, objected to by Creston and Winterset previously, would be determined by the Department of Education, who would determine what would happen to that territory.

“None of this is 100% that it’s going to happen,” Croghan commented.

Nodaway Valley would be interested in hiring a portion of Orient-Macksburg’s staff when the district ceases holding classes. Surveys were done previously of existing staff at Orient-Macksburg, to help find out what they would like to do in the future.

Two implications of dissolution that could impact Nodaway Valley are Orient-Macksburg’s desire for board representation and permission for Creston to bring one bus into Orient to service students already attending school in Creston. Nodaway Valley has unofficially agreed to both of these.

A transition clause may be needed for Orient-Macksburg students coming to Nodaway Valley if credit requirements for graduation aren’t the same between the two districts. An open house or visit for Orient-Macksburg students to Nodaway Valley schools may be planned to ease those transitions.

Croghan reminded the Nodaway Valley board that dissolution would be a spending authority netural move, meaning that Nodaway Valley would not benefit or be harmed by whatever financial state Orient-Macksburg is in. In whole grade sharing, Orient-Macksburg would remain a school district financially.

Orient-Macksburg was serving 88 students last week, Croghan said, though it’s reasonable to believe not all of those 88 students would come to Nodaway Valley in a changed relationship between the districts.

“Orient-Macksburg is very thankful and grateful for how they’ve felt welcomed by Nodaway Valley’s students, staff and board, but also by the community,” Croghan said. “Even through the dissolution process, they had Nodaway Valley community members saying, ‘Yeah! We’d love to have you.’ They felt very positive.”

Orient-Macksburg Superintendent Jeff Kruse said in an email to the newspaper that his board was meeting Monday, Oct. 14. Kruse said that in his short tenure at Orient-Macksburg, he has noticed Nodaway Valley has always been willing to support Orient-Macksburg when a need arises, their board and administrators have been helpful in promoting positive sharing agreements, and the whole grade sharing committee will continue drafting a proposal to have ready Feb. 1.

“District superintendents plan to confer with legal counsel to prepare recommendations to the tuition and transportation sections of the agreement. O-M plans to reconvene the dissolution commission this fall to review options again,” Kruse said. “By early January, the O-M board will hold a public hearing to receive comments on the reviewed plan. The target date for a potential dissolution vote is March 4, 2025. If the dissolution vote is successful, whole grade sharing between O-M and NV would be for one year.”