Healthy New Benefit for District Employees Announced at School Board Meeting

Highlights from the September 13, 2021 Excelsior Springs School Board meeting:

The meeting began with an award for classified employee of the month. The award for September 2021 was given to high school administrative assistant Cassandra Smith for her pivotal role in helping to get the school year of to a successful start. This award had been suspended during the 20-21 school year due to the COVID pandemic.

cassandra smith — Cassandra Smith was named classified employee of the month for September 2021

District superintendent, Dr. Travis Hux, announced that an application for funds has been made to FEMA for an auxiliary gymnasium in the amount of $4.75 million. This structure would serve as a practice facility and also an emergency FEMA shelter for the community.

Enrollment numbers were given. Pre-K is up 47% due in large part to their move to their new facilities. (Click here to see a tour of the new Early Childhood Center). Elkhorn up 2.43%, Lewis up 13.66%, Cornerstone up 6.26%, Middle School unchanged, High School up 9.27%, and Job Corps was down 78.47% due to COVID closures. Even with the Job Corps drop district enrollment is up 3.3% and barring the Job Corps numbers district enrollment was reported to be up over 8%.

The building which formerly housed the Early Childhood Center, and before that served as the vocational technical school, located at at 113 Line St. will now be referred to as the Support Services Center. In addition to being the meeting place for the school board, the Support Services Center will serve as a base of operations for technology support staff and maintenance personnel.

One of the most exciting announcements of the evening is that the school district will be partnering with the Excelsior Springs Community Center to offer all full-time employees of the school district a complimentary membership to the community center. In essence all full-time employees will receive a $35 credit at the community center. If an employee would like to add a spouse or family members they will only need to pay the difference.

No photo description available. — Full-time school district employees will enjoy complimentary memberships to the Community Center

It was noted that there is now a COVID dashboard for the school district on the district website which is updated weekly.

The new bus routes which allow for the bussing of all elementary students are running smoothly, and currently without the need for additional routes. On a related note Apple Bus had a good summer and was able to recruit nine additional drivers which, according to the district deputy superintendent, “is a very good number for them.”

District food services are looking at a projected $500,000 profit, an extreme turnaround from losses of approximately $80,000-$100,000 just two years ago. Much of this surplus is due to an influx of funding through the CARES Act. The district is looking to reinvest this surplus into the food system and improve meal options and quality.

The school district is “dangerously low” on substitute teachers. The substitute list for the entire district has only 25 individuals on call and this district is in need of between 12 to 15 substitutes per day. The school district will explore options for utilizing an outside placement service to source substitute teachers.

After the meeting adjourned several individuals approached the board to voice their their concerns in regard to the COVID protocols that are in place throughout the district.