News : VSCSD Staff Update - February V-S Board Recap

Photo DescriptionsBenton County Historical Society Presentation On behalf of the Benton County Historical Society, Andrew Elwick, presented the school district with four matted maps of the town of Vinton. Highlighting various famous buildings.Difference Maker Presentation
Melissa Smith, Amber Foss, Melissa Dulin, and Jasmin Pottebaum have been nominated as true difference makers.  They are so patient and kind and do all the hard things. They never turn a kid away even if they need something that isn't a nursing issue. All of this is done with a smile on their faces.
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General Business of the Board

• Approved Agenda & Minutes
• ApprovedFinancials & Claims
• Approved Contracts

1. Special Education Contracts with College Community CSD and Benton CSD for services provided by Vinton-Shellsburg.
2. Frontline Recruiting, Hiring, and Central for an annual amount of $13,388.76 , which includes a recruiting solution and will replace TalentEd, the current onboarding and employee record system.

• Approved Personnel - Resignations
• Kelsey Fish- Induction Coach (through Grant Wood AEA), effective at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
• Meredith Zuspann- Shellsburg Interventionist, effective at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
• Approved Open Enrollment Requests
• Approved Travel Request - Honor Choir
• Approved Fundraising Request - Middle School FFA Strawberry sales

Approved Business Manager Replacement Transition Plan
Congratulations to Crystal Coder who was appointed to be the next business manager at Vinton-Shellsburg CSD. Crystal will act as training Business Manager beginning July 1, 2024 and to take over full responsibilities effective January 1, 2025. In addition, we will be hiring a new benefits specialist to commence training on July 1, 2024 to replace Crystal's current position.

Policies - 1st Reading
 
505.08 Parent and Family Engagement Information --- needs to be reviewed and noted annually

401.13 (now 713 with updated title) - Responsible Technology Use & Social Networking
This policy language has been updated to reflect more recent changes in technology and keep terminology current. This policy is being moved from the 400 series on Employees, to the 700 series on Non-Instructional Operations. This change reflects that the policy language applies to a larger audience of students, staff, and volunteers in the district.  

401.13R1 (now 713.R1) - Responsible Technology Use & Social Networking Regulation
See explanation directly above.

502.07 - Student Substance Use (updated title)
This policy has been updated to reflect the current law on age limits for the purchase of tobacco/nicotine products, and to update language to better reflect the district's role in encouraging the health and wellbeing of students.

605.06 - Internet Appropriate Use
Changes to this policy are designed to update terminology as technology and available programs have evolved. Permission letters to access the internet have been removed as a requirement, based on the commonplace use of internet-based tools in classrooms.

605.06R1 - Internet Appropriate Use Regulation
See explanation for policy 605.06 above.

New! 605.08 - Artificial Intelligence in the Education Environment
This new policy is designed to provide some framework for determining the appropriate use of generative and open-source AI tools in the education environment.  

New! 605.08R1 - Artificial Intelligence in the Education Environment Regulation
See explanation for policy 605.08 above.
 
701.01 - Depository of Funds
Language in this policy has been updated to provide greater flexibility for districts when preparing their annual resolutions.

701.02 - Transfer of Funds
Additional language in this policy has been added to reflect increased flexibility districts will have beginning in FY 2024.

701.03 - Financial Records
This policy language has been reformatted to build greater clarity into the language.

701.04 - Governmental Accounting Practices and Regulations
Changes to this policy are designed to better clarify the differing types of fund balances and their intended purposes.

703.1 - Budget Planning
This policy has been updated to further detail deadlines relevant to this topic. Language from 703.02 has been consolidated into this policy.

Rescinded  703.2 - Spending Plan
This policy has been rescinded. See explanation directly above.

Substitute Pay
Approved a change in the required number of consecutive days subbing from 15 to 10 days to earn the per diem rate.

Next Board meeting will be Sunday, February 18th 5:00 pm. This will include a budget workshop for setting the school district levy rates for the following year.