Superintendent's Message for October 2023

The 2023-2024 school year is off to a great start and we are almost at the end of the first quarter.  October has arrived with great fall weather and the dry weather will lead to a productive harvest season.  Please be aware of the farmers driving down country roads or highways.  I have always wondered why we must get by them so quickly; take your time and pass cautiously.  Let’s do our part to ensure a safe harvest for our local farmers.

            This is the 10-year anniversary of the Southwest Valley School District and the whole grade sharing agreement continues to work very smoothly.  I have asked many people about the process of bringing both schools together and understand there were concerns and challenging issues to handle.  We have changed a few things over the course of the years, but the students have really meshed well together, and so have the parents.  When I first arrived six years ago, the idea of reorganization became an option to consider.  State funding was in limbo for schools that share personnel, and if that funding ended, it would make sense to reorganize and become one district.  The legislature decided to extend the funding and the best financial decision was to continue with our whole grade sharing agreement. 

We will continue to consider the incentives to whole grade share versus reorganization.  The process of reorganizing takes about three years to accomplish.  We have completed several of the items necessary to reorganize.  The next part of the process would be a vote of the constituents.  The earliest we would consider a vote for reorganization would be in November of 2025. 

The school board election is on November 7, 2023.  The Corning School Board has two director seats open and the Villisca School Board has three vacancies for school board director positions.  Stephanie Hodapp and Trent Roberts will be on the ballot for the Corning board.  Tom Williams, Jason Poston, and Richard Mullen have completed the process for the Villisca openings.  Corning Board members Amy Grau and Gwen Larsen will retire after serving for four and ten years, respectively.  There will be a reception for their service, immediately following the meeting of the retiring board on November 20, 2023.  The public is invited to attend the reception to honor both board members who have served in leadership roles.

We are getting close to releasing designs for the elementary building and baseball and softball fields that are part of the $19.2 million bond referendum project passed in March.  We are on track to release the project for bids at the end of November. We will break ground after the 2023-2024 school year and complete the project and be ready to move in the building for the 2025-2026 school year.

Have a great October and a safe harvest for our farmers!