‘Big issues, multiple perspectives and good dialogue’ sum up BOE retreat
Members of the Holyoke Re-1J School District Board of Education held their second of two semi-annual retreats on July 13. Board members in attendance included board president Dustin Sprague, vice president John Kleve, and board members Nain Vasquez, Mike Brown and Arlan Scholl. Board member Justin Clayton participated by phone. Board member Jessica Koch was not able to attend. School administrators that attended included superintendent Kyle Stumpf, elementary school principal Andrea Kammer, JR/SR high school principal Angela Powell, and budget and finance director Ben Rahe.
Board retreats are an opportunity, as Arlan Scholl described it, “for board members to have more time to share personal thoughts and feelings, and to go into deeper discussions than what regular board meetings have time to go in to. We had good discussions about important issues. Lots of ideas were shared.”
Retreats, held at locations within or near the boundaries of the school district, typically include identifying additional information to gather and planning processes that complete the groundwork necessary to drive future meeting agendas. There is no action taken at retreats, meaning there are no motions put forward to be voted on. Superintendent Stump finds all retreats to be very beneficial, saying, “The biggest thing I get out of retreats is the longer, more in-depth, open and honest discussions on the big items. They help me frame future action items to take up with the board.”
Issues for this summer’s retreat were broad, complex and diverse. Beginning with school safety, participants continued exploring options for devoting personnel solely to matters of safety and security. The district will not know until October if they will be awarded a School Violence Prevention grant for $340,000 that they applied for in May. At this time it appears that the police department will not be staffed adequately enough to assign a school resource officer to the schools this coming year. For the board’s ongoing consideration, Stumpf was charged with creating a short-term and a long-term plan. He is also to draft a job description for a potential safety and security position and work with Rahe on how such a position could be worked into the budget.
Another important matter related to school safety is the carrying of concealed firearms by staff. The thought at this time is to wait on any decision and instead see if a new safety and security position can be filled. If so, then that person can take the lead on getting concealed carries figured out. Presumably, they’ll have more expertise to bring to bear on the matter so the board can make a more informed decision to allow concealed carries or not.
In response to the ongoing challenge of statewide workforce shortages across numerous sectors, participants discussed bonuses as a strategy for both recruiting and retaining staff. Considerations included the timing of hiring bonuses and the timing of when contracts are signed, as well as which positions would be eligible for bonuses.
Bonuses with the aim of retaining more staff might be possible for staff members that reach benchmark years, for example the first, fifth, 10th, etc. Stumpf, the school principals and Rahe are to work together on building in specific dollar amounts to the 2024-25 budget. That draft will be considered at next year’s winter board retreat.
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