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Teachers and Staff,
It’s been quite the stretch to Thanksgiving break, but you have made it!
We had an information-filled Board meeting tonight. Mr. Madison Ingle presented information that PPC has been working on regarding next year’s calendar. The board had several questions and concerns with reducing the number of instructional days from 175 to 170. However, they were very interested in the designated days for vertical alignment and transitions. PPC will take the feedback provided into discussion at their next meeting.
I presented three separate pieces of information. There was no board vote or action taken on these items, but this information will be important in the future. The first was a financial comparison with like-sized districts around the state. We were able to look at areas where we were the strongest financially and also places we differ. This information is relevant as we move into 2023. Both the House and Senate legislative committees have made significant recommendations toward teacher salaries within the foundation formula. If approved by the legislature, this action will have the most significant budgetary impact we have ever seen. As we peel back the layers, we have to determine how to universally apply that raise to all our personnel schedules to make sure the funding increase will create a sustainable personnel budget. There’s so much more to come on this topic, but that is why the board has already begun looking at this issue.
The second piece of information was a school safety action plan. This plan has been a work-in-progress by a local safety commission that we established back in July. We are looking at recommendations that are coming from the state safety commission and then looking at our current practices to see where the greatest needs are. There are still some final decisions to be made, but we are stepping through the information.
The last item for discussion was the introduction of a bus tracking system. Our technology department has been testing this product. Essentially, the system would create a public mapping of all our school buses so parents and school personnel can see where the bus is at all times. There were some positives and negatives discussed with the system but overall it could be a quality option.
The Board approved the retirement of Mr. Brent Bogy at the end of this school year. Mr. Bogy has been with Mountain Home Public Schools since 2014. He has served the district as JH Assistant Principal, Director of Student Services, High School Principal, Director of Student Engagement and now Hackler Principal. Mr. Bogy has always been a student-focused leader and I wish him the best! The Hackler principal position will be posted tomorrow for the 23-24 school year.
Mrs. Dewey and Ms. Crawford did a fantastic job on this Thanksgiving video! We are blessed to live in a place like Mountain Home and blessed to work for a system like Mountain Home Public Schools.
I am looking forward to Thanksgiving with Brittney, J. Henry, and Jack; and I wish you and your families the best as well!
Go Bombers!
