NS Board Discusses New COVID Protocols

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The North Shelby School Board met in regular and executive session Wednesday, December 15, 2021. All members were present.

  The consent agenda was approved, which consisted of the previous month’s meeting minutes and the bills to be paid.

  Superintendent’s Report

  Kim Gaines reported there have been two filings for the school board—Scot Shively and Amy Presson. Board filing ends December 28 at noon.

  Old Business

  LJ Hart and Co. sent two representatives to present the board the funding parameters for the refunding of the 2017 bonds. This refunding will save the school district around $100,000 and shorten the time period for the issue. The refunding committee of Kim Gaines—Superintendent, Scot Shively, Board President, and Larry Hart will meet to set the final rates for the refunding.

  New Business

  Gaines shared the district’s MAP/EOC test results from the spring 2021 assessment period; these were made public on December 1. Gaines pointed out that North Shelby students, once again, performed well on the end of year, summative tests required by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

  “Our results are the result of the tremendous effort our teachers put into daily instruction with our students. A viable curriculum and strong instruction are the keys to helping our students to be successful, not just on a state test. Our students try to do their best each and every year. All of our tested areas/grade levels performed above the state average but one,” said Gaines.

  “Missouri students grades 3-8 take the MAP test in English Language Arts, mathematics, and science (5th and 8th), while the high school students take the End of Course assessments in English I, II, Algebra I, Biology and Government.”

  With the recent court ruling and order from the Attorney General about the COVID mitigation orders/efforts by Missouri’s local health departments and school districts (even though the lawsuit did not address schools), the board discussed the district’s close contact/quarantine protocol.

  Schools operate under board policy and state statute concerning the handling of communicable disease, but the Attorney General is threatening legal action and sending cease and desist orders to schools who are still mandating masks and utilizing quarantine orders.

  The NS Board of Education voted to amend the COVID-19 protocol for the exclusion of close contacts from school. Positive cases and household contacts will still be excluded from school attendance/activities per the guidance from the CDC. The district will continue to contact trace but will allow close contacts to attend school as long as they are symptom free. Parents will need to monitor their student(s), and the school nurse will monitor identified close contacts daily.

  “In this highly charged political climate, local control no longer exists and schools are caught in the crossfire between the left and the right (politically). We will continue to make every effort to provide a quality education in a safe environment for our students and staff.

  “It’s time to stop taking sides and work together for the betterment of our schools and communi-ties. I also want to thank our Raider community and the Shelby County Health Department for their support during this extremely trying situation,” said Gaines.

  The board also reviewed and approved the changes to the Safe Return to Schools plan (COVID-19 protocol above) which is required for ESSR III funds. These funds have not been released to schools at this time; the state legislature needs to approve their release by March 23.

  High School Principal Report

  Kerri Greenwell provided the following information to the board:

  Congratulations to the Northeast All-District Media Coach of the Year David Stuckey, and the following Raiders for being named to the Northeast All-District Media Football Team: FIRST TEAM OFFENSE – AP Cale Stoneburner, WR/TE Noah Greenwell; FIRST TEAM DEFENSE – DL Justin Lunsford, DL Luke Schwanke, LB Noah Greenwell, DB Carson Orr and DB Robert Uhlmeyer.

  Congratulations to Dylan McEwen and Robert Uhlmeyer for making the Missouri Football Coaches Association Academic All-State Team.

  The Varsity Scholar Bowl team attended a large tournament in Columbia this past weekend. They received consolation after going undefeated in the afternoon. Aden Johnston placed 16th individually out of the 150 students attending the tournament.

  Congratulations to Andi Belt for receiving a $1,000 National FFA SAE Grant from Barn2Door.

  Organizations have finished several service projects this semester. FFA sold approximately 2,300 candy grams to help buy presents for Christmas angels. Student Council and FBLA collected 1,329 items for the Celebration of Sharing Food Drive.

  Grades will be due January 4, 2022, when we come from break.

  Elementary Principal Report

  Jennifer Rich provided the following information the board:

  I traveled to Jefferson City on Wednesday, December 8 for a NEMAESP meeting with other elementary principals. We met with three legislators to discuss issues in education.

  Jennifer Linberger has been working hard with the students on the elementary Christmas program.

  Executive Session

  In executive session, the board approved the resignations of Donna Henderson as the part-time science teacher and Renee Shinn as the JH/HS math teacher.