The May 15 meeting of the Columbia School Board featured developments in the district’s English Language Arts curriculum, various end-of-year concerns, a charming presentation from a group of Parkview Elementary students and a number of other action items.

Among the matters on the agenda receiving the most attention was approval of the new ELA curriculum, with Columbia Assistant Superintendent of Schools Amanda Ganey speaking about the work that’s gone into the new academic plan and its importance.

“Teachers need their resources,” Ganey said. “We already are going to have them looking at these items over their summer. Instead of waiting and kind of kicking it down the road, we think that the better situation, systematically speaking, would be to possibly approve the new ELA curriculum to help with alignment, to help everyone have consistent curricular resources.”

Having put a great deal of work toward researching and organizing the new curriculum in recent months – work for which Columbia School Board President Greg Meyer applauded her – Ganey also spoke to the need for the curriculum to be implemented sooner rather than later.

“Timeline, I don’t like that it’s a quick turnaround; however, in conversations with my administration and in conversations with teachers, it is needed,” Ganey said. “If we wait until the end of next year, then we’re going to be in the same place. And we know where we are. We know that we need alignment.”

Ganey further noted the positive feedback she’s gotten in each of the district’s schools as well as the year’s worth of professional development she has prepared for teachers to build on the new curriculum.

Regarding cost for textbooks and other resources, Columbia Superintendent of Schools Chris Grode said the ELA curriculum is among the more expensive, set to cost the district an unbudgeted $575,000, placing the district firmly in the red for the fiscal year.

Ganey added that, with the consistency in the curriculum that this new plan would add, it would last for six years.

With Meyer and other board members bemoaning having to spend money, the board unanimously agreed to approve the curriculum, Meyer remarking on the investment in students.

The board addressed several other action items, approving an ad sales agreement with Digital Scoreboards following the recent installation of the new outside scoreboard at Columbia High School.

This issue had been tabled last month after board member Adam Hemken questioned the revenue sharing. It was noted prior to approval at this meeting that the district would not be paying for Digital Scoreboards’ salaries as part of the arrangement.

The plan for the new scoreboard system, as previously discussed by the board, is to work with Digital Scoreboards to gather and develop advertising and other material to display on the board for the next few years in the hopes of ultimately incorporating this into the curriculum, having students develop content to be displayed during games and other events.

The board also approved a lunch fee increase of 25 cents – Grode noted the fee had not been raised in the past five years – as well as a furniture purchase for the high school expansion.

This purchase totaled $47,737, and it was noted this was less than what was originally budgeted for. This furniture being for the office area, another purchase is anticipated for classroom furniture next month.

Also approved by the board was a public hearing to amend the 2024-25 budget, set for next month’s meeting which will take place June 18, the third Wednesday of the month rather than the usual Thursday.

The first reading of a new set of Press Plus policies was approved, as was the second reading of a set of policies.

Grode spoke on this final approval of policies, one item concerning the administration of undesignated albuterol – a drug for bronchospasm treatment – to students in emergency situations and another item discussing student representation on the school board.

“We will have and engage students at all levels depending on the topic and ask some of them to come in and present,” Grode said. “It wouldn’t be the same person every time.”

Ganey’s report this month touched briefly on the ELA curriculum prior to its approval but also discussed a range of other academic matters, particularly concerning the high school’s college and career pathway.

Ganey noted the district is set to have three in-house pathways next year: pharmacy technician, construction trades and emergency medical responder. With a partnership with the Dupo School District, Columbia students will also have pathways in the form of ROTC, electrician and HVAC training.

In his report, Grode noted work done by students on the district office’s front landscaping – such work is also planned for other district buildings in the future – and the new scoreboard.

He also spoke about the staff and faculty changes that have come with the end of the school year.

“Just before this event, we celebrated retirees, and we had eight people that are retiring at the end of this year, and that accounted for 174 cumulative years of experience that are walking out of this organization,” Grode said. “People move jobs, and to have those people with 30-plus years of experience is a wonderful thing. It just is a tribute to this community, the culture we have here. It’s very nice.”

On a related note, the board approved a substantial number of personnel items in its consent agenda, with several resignations and employment of numerous educational support personnel, summer workers and extended school year staff.

Another presentation in the meeting came from Anne Noble of STIFEL, who offered the board an overview of their bond situation as they are set to finance $29 million in bonds this year following $24 million financed in the last two years.

At the end of the meeting, Grode also spoke briefly about the CHS renovation and the continued steady progress, speaking highly of Poettker Construction, Cobalt Construction Consulting and FGM Architects.

“Everything’s moving very, very smoothly,” Grode said. “We are still on target to open the front of the building in August. The fence is going to be down, and we will be entering the building through the front of the building… They need to take that fence down and give us that before they can start really working on the gymnasium in the back, so that is the target.”

Meyer also chimed in to note how beneficial the decision was to hire Cobalt as an advocate for the district throughout the process.

The monthly building report featured a collection of Parkview students dressed as various celebrities and other figures, including Princess Diana, Abraham Lincoln, Taylor Swift, Josh Allen, Martin Luther King Jr., Queen Elizabeth and Simone Biles.

This was, as Parkview Elementary Principal Robert Dugan explained, part of the annual fourth grade wax museum project, which sees students write a report on a historical figure or celebrity before putting together a first person biography of them.

“That’s just one of my favorite times of the year, the wax museum, just getting in there and seeing those kids, the work they put into it, you can see how proud they are of it. It’s awesome,” Dugan said.