Facilities a core part of NV board long term planning

Nodaway Valley Superintendent Dr. Pam Stangeland revisited three areas of focus she spoke heavily on when she began a little more than three months ago last week during the district’s school board meeting.

The three areas — student growth, fiscal responsibility and communication — provided a framework for a spreadsheet the superintendent shared with the board that broke down each of those areas and measurable goals she has set for the district.

“I wanted them to be broad enough so that our buildings could create building goals under them that are aligned to those,” Stangeland said. “I also wanted them specific enough that we would have a way of measuring if we attained those goals as well.”

An example of student growth goals is to improve literacy scores to a certain amount at the elementary school. Another is to improve communication between the district, families and community so as to reduce the number of behavior incidents to a certain level by the end of the school year at the elementary school.

Under fiscal management, Stangeland wants to maintain a minimum unspent authorized budget of 15%. As the amount of unused general fund spending authority at the end of the fiscal year, an unspent authorized budget amount illustrates the financial health of a school district. Having a percentage too high in this category indicates the district is not spending current money on current students, Stangeland has said.

Stangeland also wants to get an updated handle on capital project needs. A representative of the company SiteLogIQ recently took a tour of all of NV’s facilities with other professionals. He is formulating a free preliminary facilities assessment, expected to be ready for review by January.

Facilities Director Brian Crees has utilized and shared a spreadsheet with priorities listed for immediate and short-term repairs, but Stangeland said she sees added benefit to working with an outside firm on something like this. SiteLogIQ has worked with the Cumberland-Anita-Massena school district, and they created a facilities overview for the CAM school board.

“The questions I’m getting from you all (NV board) is what is the lifespan of this building or what is the lifespan of our gymnasium space, our classroom space. What is the return on this investment or that investment? Those are the things we need help from a professional on,” Stangeland said. “These are really great reports; then you as a board can determine where we want to go with those next steps.”

As the district continues maintaining its buildings, Stangeland said it’s important for the board to fully understand any investments they make and what the return will be on that investment.

“This doesn’t tie us to him. We’ve signed no contract and no money has been exchanged,” Stangeland emphasized. “It’s just an investigation of the state of our facilities and our possible facilities priorities.”

In action items, the board:

• approved an entire series of board policies

• approved a request to the School Budget Review Committee for Modified Supplemental Amount and Supplemental Aid for the 2024-25 special education deficit of $377,472.56 or as determined by the Iowa Department of Education following the DE audit review

• approved three mid-year graduates, pending successful completion of coursework