As winter nears and Iolans prepare for festivities, the Iola school district has gone temporarily dormant.
“It is the calm before the storm,” Iola High School principal Stacy Fager said. “After Thanksgiving, sports start up and it gets busy again.”
During Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, USD 257 superintendent Brian Pekarek shared the facilities planning committee’s feedback from when community members and school officials visited and toured the recently built Garnett Elementary School.
Positive feedback centered on the safety of the school. The school has one entrance and exit point and all other doors are locked.
An expressed weakness of the school was that the size of classrooms was sacrificed for an overly big commons area.
Brad Crusinbery, principal of Jefferson Elementary School, however, begged to differ.
“I think the commons area makes it easy at the beginning of the day. There is so much you can do with that space,” he said. “I didn’t think the classrooms were that small.”
Planning committee members are split on whether they should tour other schools. Pekarek said they would continue with the meetings until a consensus was reached.
Pekarek also presented the USD 257 SMART goals, which are the one-, five- and 10-year plans for improving the school district.
Pekarek said the district plans to achieve its mission, “To inspire all students to succeed,” by using district resources efficiently and effectively, supporting a culture based on tolerance, understanding, teamwork and diversity, focusing on student achievement through a rigorous and relevant curriculum and dynamic instructional practices and recruit, and retaining and supporting an effective and qualified staff.
The board approved a forgiveness of a missed workday for McKinley Elementary staff on Oct. 15, when the basement flooded. McKinley staff will be paid for that missed day.
A gift of $550 from Sterlin Michael, who used to be a longtime custodian at the high school, was approved.
USD 257 board reviews feedback
