Light agenda for Cox’s final school board meeting

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

In what would be the final official public meeting for Superintendent Dan Cox, the Charles City Community School District Board of Education made quick work of a light agenda at its regular meeting on Monday.

Cox announced his resignation in late March to accept the position as chief administrator of the Northwest Area Education Agency located in Sioux City. Mike Fisher was hired in May to replace Cox, and will officially begin on July 1.

Cox presented the school board members a summary report of a recent culture survey. Staff at the district were invited to take an anonymous survey in April and May, and 57 percent responded. The survey was conducted by School Perceptions.

“We have a lot of great things going on,” said Cox, who said the survey was a first step. “Until we learn what areas need improvement, we don’t know what needs to be fixed.”

Of those who responded, 43 percent were classroom teachers, 24 percent were instructional aides, and 16 percent were educational specialists, such as counselors, librarians, etc. The other 17 percent were either food service, transportation, custodial/maintenance, administration or other.

Thirty-seven percent of the respondents had worked for the Charles City district for 10 years or more.

“There are a lot of positives in here, and that’s a great thing to see,” said school board President Jason Walker.

When it came to overall satisfaction of the district, 90 percent of those who responded said that the community supports education and 88 percent said that, all things considered, the Charles City School District is a good place to work.

Seven percent of respondents gave the district an A grade, while 46 percent gave the district a B and 34 percent a C. Just two percent of respondents gave the district a failing grade.

Four percent of respondents said academic expectations for students are too high, while 43 percent said too low and 53 percent said just right.

“I think this is a great starting point, now we can dig deeper and find out what are some of the core things we can work on to improve culture and climate in our buildings,” said Walker. “This is simply things that our staff has on their minds that we can work on to help improve their workplace environment.

“I’m excited to see what Mike (Fisher) and his staff are able to put together for recommendations, and things that we can implement to address some of these,” Walker said.

Director Robin Macomber wondered if the survey would become an annual event, and Cox told her that would largely be up to the new superintendent and his staff.

Entire results of the survey are available online at the Charles City School District’s website.

In other business, Macomber, the school board’s delegate to the Iowa Association of School Board’s legislative assembly, shared with the board a list of legislative priorities to recommend for the platform of the IASB for the 2019 legislative session.

Two legislative priorities were recommended by Macomber and approved unanimously by the board. They were to support of the repeal of the 2029 sunset on the statewide penny sales tax for school infrastructure, and increased statewide access to funding for mental health services for children.

“I think these are two critical ones,” said Walker.

Each school board can recommend as many as four priorities for the platform. Before the vote, director Scott Dight made sure it was clear that additional priorities could be brought up later, from the convention floor.

In other action, the school board unanimously approved recommended stipends of $7,500 to five instructional coaches — Kelly Boggess, Sheila Etherington, Brittini Molstead, David Voves and Marie Conklin. The board also approved recommended stipends of $1,000 to 10 model teachers — Darla Arends, Brenda Bailey, Donna Forsyth, Lisa Nelson, Robert Pittman, Diane Sande, April Schweinfurth, Laura Stallsmith, Shannon Venz and Brandy Mutch.

The board also approved stipends of $750 for about 13 beginning mentor teachers and $500 stipends for about 10 veteran mentor teachers. The final number of teacher stipends will be finalized after all new staff are hired and transfers made.

At the end of the public meeting, the school board adjourned and went into closed session to discuss the evaluation of superintendent Cox.

In other business Monday, the school board:

— Agreed to meet just once in July, on the third Monday, which will be July 16. The board will meet with the new superintendent in early July to determine whether or not two August meetings are needed.

— Approved the resignation of Tad Berry, sophomore football coach, effective June 25.

— Approved the appointment of Susan Leeper, middle school and high school home school program, at a salary of $30,969, effective Aug. 15.

— Approved the appointment of Laura Wickham, middle school educational secretary, at the amount of $14.66 per hour, starting Aug.18.

— Approved the appointment of Michelle Grob, high school drama director, in the amount of $3,623, effective Aug. 1.

— Approved the appointment of Robert Pittman, middle school football coach, in the amount of $3,090, effective Aug. 1.

— Approved the transfer of Ann Hanes, from the position of success coach to the position of high school special education teacher.

— Approved keeping the substitute teacher rate at $105 per day.