Nodaway-Holt BOE

Nodaway-Holt board members spent the morning of February 27 in the classroom.

The Nodaway-Holt R-VII Board of Education met in open and closed sessions on February 27 to handle the following school district business:

In closed session, the board extended contracts for the 2020-21 school year to Elementary Principal Shawn Emerson and High School Principal Mike Hollingsworth. Katelyn Holmes was hired as ag instructor and Blakely Deal as physical education instructor for the 2019-20 school year.

In open session, the resignation of Michelle Getting, science teacher, and the retirement of Steve Schneidermeyer were accepted.

Discussion was held on the 2019-20 school year calendar, the switch to hours instead of days attended and how this will affect the 180 days teachers are contracted for. With seven snow days this year, Superintendent Jeff Blackford brought forward whether the missed days in 2019-20 would be forgiven, required to be made up or required to take paid leave. The board will discuss this at a future meeting.

Nodaway-Holt has missed seven days due to inclement weather and two for electrical construction. The last school day is currently May 22.

The facilities and grounds program evaluations for the Graham and Maitland buildings were discussed and approved. With the snow, ice and cold, Blackford indicated the review of the outside was more difficult. Most problems were cosmetic and will be corrected.

Senior Tillie Stanton talked about her Jefferson City trip, meeting Governor Mike Parson and Representative Allen Andrews and touring the capitol with past representative Mike Thomson. She also gave the senior trip to Kansas City presentation and was commended for the economic sense of it.

In the work session portion of the meeting, future plans were discussed on website communication, next year’s professional development for teachers, investigating early childhood opportunities and sports co-ops. No votes were taken.