001[Music] Hello, Falcons. Mr. Fleshner here bringing you our updates from our April school board meeting. It's hard to believe that we're already entering almost the last month of the school year here. So, pretty healthy agenda in April. Encourage you to check those minutes out. Uh they'll be published here very, very soon. So, April is really a budget building time for next year. So, one of the first things you happen to see was a a public meeting or a public hearing for review of our budget. So, our school board took some time really walked through a lot of the steps and considerations in building our budget for our next school year. So, that's one of the first items that we took care of right away. As far as the regular agenda, some pretty big to-do items
002uh again in April. We talked about a little bit last month, you know, as the school year starts to kind of wind down a little bit, really kind of activity in the district office really starts to ramp up with teacher contracts and budgeting and all kinds of things to take care of. So, let's get through some of those notes. So, again, one of the first things the board approved was the budget for next school year. Really important to note, if you happen to see in the newspaper, uh we we published that so you can take a look at it. The tax rate that was in the newspaper was $11.92 per thousand. Okay. The board uh made some changes inside of that thing very very positive. They actually lowered that property tax rate to about 1178.
003I don't have all those numbers right in front of me this second, but they did lower it about 13 cents. Um I think which is a very very positive move um for all of our taxpayers as we go forward um with our budget for next year. Also, the next item we finalized transferring some property um some school district property to the city of Parkersburg. And this really is up by the baseball field that's going to help the city um finalize a walking path and bike trail. So, that'll be a really nice addition to the city of Parkersburg for people to use as that weather gets nicer here before too too long. It's going to be nice when they have that all finished up. Uh approved a graduation list. That's an annual to-do item. the board
004had an opportunity to watch a slideshow that was put together about really some of the intentions for our seniors after they graduate and things that they're planning to do. Might have noticed a couple of sharing agreements getting changed around. Um we've uh shared transportation a transportation director position with AWSR in the past. Um that's actually we've dissolved that agreement. We're actually going to be sharing with our neighbors to the north in North Butler. So, North Butler and AP will be sharing a transportation uh director in the future. The board also set the last day of school. Now, pending any real weather changes. Okay? If you remember last spring though, we had a lot of localized flooding in the area. So, we we don't need that this spring, but the last day is set for May
00530th and 11:00 dismissal. That's a Friday. So, if you want to mark that on your calendars, again, pending any real real weather situations, May 30th, 11:00 dismissal will be the last day of school for this year. Couple other items, uh, after really a 2-year process of of kind of vetting and testing. Our elementary has selected a new literacy curriculum. We're really, really excited about this. It's a high quality program for our our young learners uh, in reading and writing, vocabulary, all those things. So, we're really excited to have that. We'll get that purchased soon, so our teachers will have those materials going into the summer. Board also approved purchasing a school bus at this meeting. Uh, you know, it's amazing when people kind of wonder about this. You know, school buses are about $150,000 to
006a little bit more than that, but they did purchase a new school bus. This is something you really need to keep in a routine, right? A pattern so you don't get behind on these purchases. So, really good move there. Um, we'll get that ordered. teacher contracts were finished up for next year. So, we'll have those out to staff in about a week or so. Um, and we'll finalize um all those other contracts hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Some facility notes. And again, I always thank Kelly. He's behind the camera helping us out with this stuff. We had a community meeting for facility discussions last night in Parkersburg. Really nice turnout, really positive conversation. Um, we have another one set up tonight. This is Wednesday. that'll be in Appton at the school and we'll
007use the library there starting at six o'clock. So, if you're available and really just want to come in and listen, share your feedback, maybe things that you liked about the last proposal, things you didn't like about the last proposal, things that you could support if we have another proposal, u really, really good open dialogue. There is not a plan in place. So, we really put everything back on the table and let's talk about each of those individually uh going forward. So, tonight uh Wednesday at six o'clock in Appton, if you're available and like to come in and kind of share your thoughts, that would be wonderful. Um with that, I think that's really the big pieces from our April meeting. And as always, if you've got questions, don't hesitate to reach out to me. Love
008to have a conversation with you. And as always, go Falcons. [Music]