The Board of Education met for the regular monthly meeting on November 20, 2019.  The meeting was held in the school conference room and was called to order by board president Mylissa Jennings at 7:00 pm.  There were five board members present for the meeting.  

The financial report for the month of October was shared with the board.  The district started the month of October with $837,622.90 in the bank.  The receipts for the month were $151,546.92 and the expenditures were $170,088.81.  The district closed the month with $819,081.01 in the various bank accounts. 

The board heard from Mr. Murphy for the principal's report.  The attendance for the month of October was down slightly with 171 students enrolled K-12.  The JH lady Indians completed a success full basketball season finishing 8-3 and winning the Mid-State Conference tournament. The Veteran's day ceremony was another success despite the cold and snow, with a good turn out of veterans and the American Legion Riders, bringing flags and attending the ceremony.  The fall sports banquet is scheduled for Thursday night, November 21we at 6:30 pm.  The staff and students are preparing for Grandparent's day which is scheduled for November 22.  

The board heard from Mr. Marnholtz for the superintendent's report.   The progress on installing the new doors in the cafeteria was shared with the board.  The board was reminded that they should be receiving in December the annual filers information for the Missouri Ethics Commission.  The results of the food service survey were shared with the board.  The student's and parents are overall satisfied with the changes in the food service program.  There were a couple of suggestions that will be incorporated into the program, which include the availability for online payments of lunch purchases and making sure that communications on lunch balances are more frequent and provide the amount owed by families.  A summary of research findings on the 4-day school week for given for their review.   

As part of the new business, The board heard from John Gillum on the Districts 2018-2019 Financial Audit.  The district received a clean finding from the auditor based upon the financial information and reports submitted for review.  There were two areas that were listed in the schedule of findings: (1) material weakness on the distribution of local tax revenues.   to make sure that the revenues were divided when received into the appropriate fund.  (2) segregation of duties was listed because the district does not have enough personnel to segregate all the duties.  As a small school, it is impossible to have enough personnel to segregate all duties, so the Board, the Treasurer and superintendent have to make sure to review items monthly.  The board approved the audit as presented from Mr. Gillum to be submitted to the MoDESE.  A copy of the audit can be viewed at the district office.   

The board will consider options for the march meeting date.  The meeting is currently scheduled for Wednesday March 18, 2020 which is in the middle of spring break.  The board will discuss in the future options to consider for a different night.  

The board approved the board filing windows and the date of the board of education elections.  The election is scheduled for April 7, 2020.  The filing window opens on December 17, 2019 and closes on January 21, 2020.  The offices will be open for filing form 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on the opening and closing days.  The offices will be open during regular hours for filing from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm when school is in session.  Filing is not available during Christmas break from December 23, 2019-January 3, 2020.   

The board discussed having a meal and a time before the regular meeting in December to discuss board goals.  

The board approved purchasing hams for the staff for Christmas.  The board annually provides the ham as a thank you to the staff for their work and dedication to the district.  The tradition will continue and hams presented to the staff on the last day of school before break.  

The board was presented a new option for creating the additional parking for handicapped spots.  The new plan would place two spots along the bus lane replacing some of the sidewalk.  The board felt the first option discussed in October provided a less congestive parking area.  The board approved the initial proposal for parking.  

The board was presented and approved the joining of a new athletic conference (currently named the Arrow Rock Conference) as an affiliate member.  The new conference is being formed by as a new conference  that will have at least 6 new full members and several affiliate members.  The primary purpose of joining the conference will be as an 8-man football team.  The football conference activity will contain several of current I-70 schools that are moving to 8-man football and some other districts that are part of the current football Conference.  This should provide options for games in central region of Missouri.  

An Executive Session was held immediately following the regular meeting.  In the executive session, the board approved a waiver of proof of residency for a student, accepted the resignation of Mr. Vogt as math teacher at the end of the 19-20 school year, due to his retirement from education, and approved the hiring of Chris Hutchison as custodian for the district.