Upgrades moving forward

Superintendent Eric Hudspith spent a large portion of the May 18 school board meeting discussing the district’s facility report and strategic planning. The district’s leadership team has been working with Teamworks International, an Education Leadership Solutions company, to “move from classroom to boardroom as we think about our next strategic plan,” Hudspith said.  

Teamworks CEO Sheri Allen presented a slide show as she spoke at the meeting about the process the district has completed and continues to work through, including gathering feedback from staff, students, parents, and the public; assessing building and department strengths and needs; and the creation of vision cards for each department, building, and for the district overall.  

“We’ve done all this work,” Hudspith added. “In a few months, we can bring the action plan, the operational plan, to the board and say ‘Now what’s the strategic plan refresh going to look like?’“ 

In the facilities report, Hudspith discussed how the district’s facilities’ needs are exceeding the $750,000 long-term facilities maintenance funding received by the state (Hartley currently has $3.6 million in deferred maintenance). He highlighted challenges at the Hartley building that are increasing more rapidly, including the water quality issue discovered in 2019, or the air handling units. 

“Another issue we run into is the trouble of finding replacement parts for some fixtures and equipment that are now many, many years old. To find a new part for a 1954 item is challenging right now.” 

The facilities task force created in 2020 found that there is no particular grade-level alignment more beneficial for learning than any other, but students experience less regression with fewer transitions between new buildings. Hudspith showed graphics of the new bond referendum survey results for both a Hartley remodel and for a new building or addition to the intermediate school, and the potential total costs for the projects.

Another matter of business was a report from district food service director Ross Larson, who highlighted plans prompted by recent changes in state requirements. Larson said the summer food program runs from June 12 to August 25 at the Central building with the exception of July 4. Breakfast is served from 7:30-8:30 a.m. and lunch from 11:00-12:30 p.m. As for the 2023-24 school year, Larson says his department is still working with MDE and USDA to plan for the universal free meals program requirement. 

“Breakfast is free for everybody, no matter what,” Larson says. “We will still have to have parents fill out the educational benefits form in the back-to-school mailing they’ll receive in July or August. It’s tied to many other district-wide reduced fees, like sports.” 

Superintendent Hudspith asked Larson to talk about why the Central building is a summer site rather than any of the other facilities. “It’s based on the current free and reduced lunch percentages. Central is the one with the highest percentage, based on the forms we get back from parents, ” Larson replied. 

Summer programming in the other buildings will still be providing lunches in a packed to-go meal form. Larson also briefly mentioned plans to implement farm-to-school partnerships and greater use of the school garden.