LINN  — Linn R-2 Superintendent Bob James told board members there’s a difference between what’s written in Regulation 4120 under Personnel Services and how the district actually operates.

“Our current regulation states that staff are required to be on duty 15 minutes prior to, and 15 minutes after our teaching day,” said James, noting teaching days go from 7:45 to 3:45. “That would mean our staff would arrive at 7:30 and leave at 4, but operationally, that’s impossible. For instance, look at breakfast. We would need students to arrive at 7:30, have everyone eat in 15 minutes, and get to class. So, we open the cafeteria at 7:15. Our staff has been doing a great job of providing supervision at that time, but it’s not in line with our regulation.”

James added the same thing applies to parent pickup. “We are rarely done by 4 o’clock,” he said. “Again, our staff has done a great job; they’re making sure kids get home safely. But our regulation is not in line with our practice. As part of the discussion, I would like your feedback. I would also recommend that I work out the language, so it makes sense with what we’re actually doing and that our habit and operation align with our regulation and policy.”

James proposed rewording the regulation to note that administrators are required to establish duty hours conducive to a safe and orderly learning environment each year. “They would propose those for the board and me to review every year after that,” he added. “If they’re going to change, those things would be reviewed like anything else. If we write the regulation to offer some flexibility, it gives them a chance to work with their staff to figure out what makes sense. The balance, though, and I think I’ve mentioned this in my notes, is you don’t want to create something where we have everybody here until 5 o’clock every day either. Those should be rare things that go outside of what I would call reasonable. So, I would like to instill flexible language and monitor it yearly so we can plan according to the conditions.”

Teachers will be expected to be at school earlier, but that has no bearing on salary. James explained the situation is a nuance of contracted versus hourly staff. “You have quite a bit of flexibility inherent in contract language,” he explained. “The balance, though, is that administrators don’t create an environment where staff hate them as much as they hate the policy. You have to balance that and make people feel valued. We make sure they understand we’re invested in their professional life. They’ve got to have work-life balance.”

James will return with an updated regulation for the board’s consideration.

In other business, bond steering committee members, at their first meeting, talked about bonding options, the scope of work, and phasing. “We’ve got some priorities,” said James. “Probably number one is getting our students out of the middle school basement, then parking, safety and security, HVAC in the middle school, and general facility aesthetics. We’ve sent out a survey to participants to ask them what their thoughts were and how we could better equip them to have those conversations in the community. We hope they go out into the community and say, ‘Hey, this is what we talked about. What do you think, Bob? What do you think, Steve? What do you think, Frank? And then they bring that back.’ So, we’ve asked them how to better equip them for those conversations. We also asked for some feedback. Tell us what went well and what didn’t go well at this meeting. We’re going to adapt to that and keep moving forward.”

REPORTS

In his report, James told the board the kitchen is serving about 220 elementary and 240 high school students daily. “My staff’s been doing great,” he said. “They’re even coming out and saying, ‘Hey, why don’t we try this?’ So it’s going well.”

Linn did not break 400 students last year cumulatively.

James noted that food service is slightly behind what the district spent last year in terms of costs, and so far this year, Linn is ahead by about $800 per week.

Food Service Director Kelley Crouse said she hasn’t served the same thing twice. “I’m kind of proud of that, too,” she said. “It’s pretty amazing.”

• James said he’s pleased with the district’s outreach as Facebook is up to 40,000 reached with 35,000 engagements. “In general, this year just feels better,” he added. “I can’t explain it.”

He added that the fan culture and atmosphere continue to improve. “It was never bad,” James said. “I’m seeing a lot of enthusiasm across the board.”

• Because he was asked about costs for summer projects, James provided the following information.

— A near-total repaint of all classrooms and most common spaces in both schools ($11,300). “We thought we’d spend about $40,000, so we beat that big time,” said James.

— Maintaining and replacing old and inoperable lighting throughout campuses cost $6,000, and landscaping improvements ran $1,000.

— Installation of an early childhood playscape donated by PTO costs about $1,500, with the PTO carrying most of it.

— Installation of new stadium bleachers and other track and football improvements cost roughly $75,000, with much of the labor costs donated by the football booster club.

— Updating and improving the shot put area cost about $6,000, and installing a drainage system for the long jump pits was about $1,000.

— Track repair and repaint cost $15,000, and resurfacing and repair of the baseball/softball infield along with dirt and a new softball fence cost approximately $36,500. “We are looking at the foul poles because they don’t look very good,” said James.

High School Principal Erin Sassmann reported the school year has started strong, and teachers are working hard.

“It’s kind of nice to me coming in kind of knowing the staff and kids,” she said. “It’s definitely been an easier start to the school year than last year. I’m excited to see what we can do with the rest of it.”

• The Osage County Sheriff’s Office provided intruder training last month. “They did a great job with that, and we appreciate that,” said Sassmann.

• Teachers are focusing on engagement and cooperative learning as a high school. The elementary school did the same thing. “We went together, and our staff did some research on cooperative learning strategies,” said Sassmann. “They did some PowerPoints, and then they taught the staff. It was cool. A lot of those teachers are now using them in their classrooms and inviting us in to see them. The goal is hopefully to get kids up and moving so that they’re not just sitting and listening to lectures all the time. This is a new era of children. I mean, when we were kids, we could sit and listen to lectures. Maybe it was boring, but we could handle it. Now, with technology, they want instant gratification. We’re trying to add more of that into our lessons to make them a bit more exciting.”

• Sassmann announced that testing scores were better, and she will present an in-depth look at the numbers next month.

• Linn’s business classes have changed the look of the weekly bulletin. “They have done an amazing job making it look exciting to the readers and have added more articles to help keep parents and students up to date on what is going on at our school,” said Sassmann. 

• Enrollment in grades 6-12 was reported at 327 students.

Elementary Principal Cammie Higgenbotham told the board that enrollment is down a bit. “I will tell you that number has been very fluid,” she explained. “In the past week, we have gotten three new students. I’ve checked the school year so far, and 277 will be the number we ended with last year.”

That number is changing daily at this point, as Linn is still enrolling new students and some who are paying tuition to attend.

• Higgenbotham noted that students are adjusting quickly to routines and procedures. “They’re doing an awesome job, and teachers are doing an amazing job of holding them to those expectations,” she added. “As I walk around the building, I see them doing their job in the hallway. Students are walking the halls quietly.”

Higgenbotham said teachers did well setting up their classrooms to get ready for students. She also thanked the maintenance and custodial staff for making the building look spectacular. “We have had a lot of comments on that,” said Higgenbotham. “We have also had a lot of positive comments about food services and everything that Mrs. Crouse has done to make our lunches better. So we appreciate her for that daily in the cafeteria. Kids are telling me the lunch is so good this year, and they’re so excited about what we’re having.”

• Higgenbotham also reported there are a lot of school leaders and 5-10 positive office referrals going out daily. “It’s awesome to see all these student leaders,” she said.

• The first fire drill of the year went amazingly well, Higgenbotham told the board.

• Open House seemed to go very well. “We had a great turnout, and families enjoyed the photo booth opportunity,” said Higgenbotham, who thanked Sweet Bee’s for coming out to the event and Bridget Otto of Portraits By Bridget for donating her services at the photo booth.

• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) testing was just completed. Higgenbotham will report that data to the board next month.

• The district has started Evaluate testing, which Higgenbotham will present next month once all the data is lifted. Higgenbotham told the board that the district will switch to a different state-approved assessment next year. The plan is to have four vendors present information to teachers this year. “One thing we’ll be looking at very closely is how that correlates to MAP testing,” said Higgenbotham of the Missouri Assessment Program. “Some programs with assessments do better on correlating to the MAP and state standards than others. We will make sure we do a nice job choosing a program that’s going to be best to help us.”

• Linn Elementary staff will work closely with PTO this year. Teachers will work at least one event during the school year, and each grade level will attend one PTO meeting per quarter. “Our goal will be to help support our PTO,” said Higgenbotham. “We are thankful for the opportunity to partner with them more.”

Facilities Director Cliff Wilson noted in his report that he is still looking for an event custodian, adding that one employee is still picking up all that and trying to manage all the events going through scheduled maintenance.

• Wilson and his staff are working on changing all the HVAC filters, ensuring all the coils are clean. “That’s the big thing right now to make sure we don’t have any more catastrophic failures or surprises,” he added.

• Several AC units were repaired, one in a junior high that failed and three in the high school with refrigerant issues. “We do have an issue with drainage in the high school,” said Wilson. “We have pipes moving and the building settling a little here and there, along with low spots where everything drains from the ground-source heat pumps. That has to drain into a central drainage system, so if anything’s kind of low, we end up with drainage issues, but we’re working on trying to fix all that.”

• The walk-in cooler has been repaired.

• Crews installed new signage around the baseball/softball field and at the entrances to the main buildings.

• Wilson plans to repair the plumbing issues in the greenhouse.