Activities Report Given to R-III Board

At the regular December meeting of the Holden School Board, board members heard the fall activities report from Activities Director Spencer Gudde.

Gudde reported that the cheerleading program took third place at Regionals and eighth place at state. They had seven students who were Academic All-Conference. The volleyball team only lost one game and were the MRVC champs.

Gudde explained that COVID had a serious impact on fall sports. In football, the middle school team only played three games.
The high school marching band competitions were all cancelled, so they found some alternatives for the band performances. The band went to a middle school football game to perform. They also performed for the elementary school students.

According to Gudde, cross country took fourth in the conference and eighth in district. The softball team finished 10-0 in the conference.

Board member Georgia Jarman commented, “Considering this year, I’m just glad the kids were able to have what they did! Thank you to everyone who made it possible for them.”
In a COVID-10 Protocol update, Superintendent Dr. Mike Hough addressed changes in suggestions from the CDC and Governor Parson.

Although both have suggested no longer requiring quarantine if everyone was wearing masks, or shortening the quarantine time, the Johnson County health department has not adjusted its recommendations.

“We are keeping our protocols the same and will continue to follow the recommendations of our local health department,” explained Dr. Hough.

In his superintendent’s report, Dr. Hough shared the MSBA December video.

In a legislative update, MSBA Board Delegate Sarah Abel asked the board members for their thoughts on moving the school board elections to November.

After discussion, the board members agreed that they were not in favor of moving the election from April to November. The consensus was that moving it to November would further politicize the election.

In financial news, Dr. Hough presented the finance report to the board. He showed a diagram of reconciliation and explained the different accounts and how money is transferred to pay for different items.

In new business, the board approved the final bid from Apple to replace 100 teachers’ MacBooks at a cost of $87,900.

The board also voted to approve the 2019-2020 audit.

In other business, the board reviewed the board goals, norms and practices. They set an action item to make sure board members have enough advance notice to be able to attend certain recognition events at the schools.

They also agreed to take a look at short-term financial goals at the January meeting. The board asked Dr. Hough to continue to give financial overviews and funding from State information at future board meetings.

Dr. Hough agreed, “State revenue is currently good from the CARES Act money, but that will dry up in 2021. It could trigger a tax cut,”he added.

Other items the board agreed on included carrying over the goals from 2019 that were not able to be completed and for the board to hold two work session in 2021 to look at long-term financial goals.

In other news, board filing date opened December 15 and will close January 19 at 5 p.m.

The board adjourned the December meeting to convene in an executive session.