The Board met Wednesday, November 16, at 6 pm for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting. Here is a recap of the meeting highlights. You can view the complete agenda and supporting documents at: https://www.mywebschooltools.com/schools/Lawson/BoardMeeting/public.php.
Celebrations: This month's "Board Spotlight" was focused on Board of Education members David Allgaier - US Army, John Weir - US Airforce, Dwayne Peoples - US Airforce, and Rob Kellam - US Marines. We are proud to recognize each of them for their military service and honor them as part of our school district's Veterans Day recognition events.
Items for Discussion:
2023 Insurance Renewal: Representatives from Holmes Murphy, our district’s insurance broker, presented the Board with an update in regards to our Health (Blue Cross Blue Shield), Dental (Delta), and Long-Term Disability Insurance Renewals (MetLife). The overall increase to the current rates will be approximately 8.5% for the coming renewal period, including the adjustments to our Health, Dental, and Long-Term Disability renewals. Our district’s insurance benefits package runs on a calendar year, and new terms go into effect on January 1, 2023, and run through December 31, 2023. The district will absorb the increase to an amount equal to the monthly premium for the Blue Select Plus HSA + $100 for current employees. The new monthly Board paid premium of $646.80 will be an increase of $42.84 per employee per month or $514.08 per employee per year. This approved increase guarantees the continuation of employees having an insurance option that is 100% District paid.
Long-Range Facilities Plan: The district has been working through many planning phases to propel the District into the future. As a result, the Board approved a partnership with Incite Design to conduct a comprehensive facilities assessment. The results of this assessment will lay out the direction to guide the district’s direction concerning the continuous maintenance and needs of existing facilities and the expansion and renovation of facilities for future use. Incite Design will begin the process in December with a completion date and final needs assessment and improvements plan ready to present to the Board in Late Spring 2023. The plan's design is to provide direction to the Board for the use in planning for future improvement projects through the use of NO TAX INCREASE bond initiatives and other financial opportunities available to the District.
Student Handbooks Updates: The Board approved four updates to the current 2022-2023 Parent Student Handbooks. This is standard practice from time to time throughout the year. The presented updates clarified the district’s administrative procedures for the school's daily business. The approved updates were regarding High School Graduation expectations and visitors entering the building during regular lunch shifts. Reviewing the November agenda and supporting documents, you can find a full explanation of the changes.
Items for Information:
School Community Strategic Plan Update: Dr. White with EGL presented the Board with the draft copy of the Governance Plan they have worked on for us based on the stakeholder input collected from the Lawson community, teachers, support staff, students, administrators, and board members. Our next step is to work through the plan and begin prioritizing the 11 goals that were presented. We will start developing action steps to execute our goals as we prioritize them. It is essential to understand that our strategic plan is intended to be a living document that guides the school district’s direction over the next 5+ years. With that said, some goals have been identified that we will be able to execute and complete in the next 12 to 18 months, while others will require a longer timeframe.
SW FEMA Building Update: Mr. Stephenson gave the Board an update on the SW FEMA Building Project. The project continues to be on schedule, aside from a slight delay in the completion of the roof installation.
Health/Wellness Coordinator Update: Mrs. Owens updated the Board on all of the ongoing initiatives that the Health/Wellness Committee is sponsoring and supporting for our staff.
Communication Director Update: The Board was updated regarding the continued work being completed on the new communication system. The system is near completion and will be rolled out on December 2. We are encouraging community members to sign up for the new text blast systems as we will be retiring the current text caster system on December 2 with the rollout of our new website, notification system, and phone app, which is free to download in both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. You can find the app by searching for Lawson R-XIV School.
Athletic Director Update: Mr. Zahl provided the Board with an update on how our fall sports teams completed the seasons and also provided them with participation numbers connected to our winter sports.
Superintendent Update: Mr. Stephenson provided the Board with updates on several items. The one with the most impact on the Lawson community was regarding policy C-160-P, which deals with Community Use of Facilities. The policy states: As a service to the community, the District may allow community groups and individuals to use District facilities for educational, recreational, social, civic, philanthropic, and other similar purposes when the facilities are not being used by the District or District-sponsored groups. The District intends to serve as a good working partnership with all of our community and to assist in any way possible to promote the future development of our students and community. With that said, the district will ask for local community groups who wish to use the District facilities to complete a usage request form and submit a deposit at the time of approval. Upon the completion of the event, the District will return 100% of the deposit so long as there have been no issues resulting in the District’s need to repair or replace equipment due to irrepressible use or neglect.
Don't hesitate to contact Mr. Stephenson if you have questions or concerns regarding any information provided in this recap or other district matters. He can be reached by email at stephensonm@lawsoncardinals.org or by phone at (816)-580-7277.