Following an executive session on July 1, the Valley Central Board of Education re-elected Joseph Bond as its board president, with Katie McKnight re-elected vice president.
The meeting included appointments to mark the start of a new academic year and a recap of the recently concluded school year, which ended during a heat wave on June 20-21 that led to changes in the school schedule.
“As you know, we moved up the start of the end-of-the-year half days to include those days. It was absolutely the right decision,” said Brad Conklin, assistant superintendent for business. “On those days, we were able to get out into just about every building and into some classrooms, and they were very warm. By the afternoon, we had temperatures in classrooms above 85 degrees. Some at Walden were over 90. Kitchens were very hot and miserable as well. So, many thanks to all the kitchen staff, custodians, and bus drivers, who were sitting in those buses waiting for kids to load. It was very, very warm. Doing those early dismissals was absolutely the right call. This just brings us to evaluating our facilities plan annually as we move forward into the fall.”
The heat also impacted the school testing schedule, with some final exams delayed from that Friday to the following Monday.
“Don’t lose sight of what we just experienced,” Conklin warned. “It’s not going away. These warm temperatures and the school years just keep getting longer and longer. We’ve talked about considering air conditioning as the roofs come up, and we can discuss whether that stays the plan for now or if you guys want to modify it as we move forward.”
A state-level bill requires schools to take action to cool down when temperatures reach 82 degrees and evacuate when they hit 88 degrees. The high cost estimate to air condition all schools is $40 million.
Conklin said the capital project approved in 2023 would address the cafeterias at the elementary level.
“At least there will be cooling zones where you can put students, but it’s not a whole school,” Conklin said. “When I was at Walden on Thursday, we had classrooms over 90 degrees. They did their best to move kids into cooler spaces, but there just aren’t many. We had some classrooms that reached 88 degrees. Overall, it’s just a miserable, not a good environment.”
Bond, who ran unopposed in May for re-election to the board, has served on the school board for seven years, including four as president.
Board members acknowledged the effort put into approving the budget and the upcoming capital projects. The meeting included the awarding of contracts for phase three of the capital project, which will improve the parking lot and gym lobby entrance at the high school, as well as the renovation of the middle school parking lot. Also included is an ornamental gate entrance onto the athletic fields.
The board also acknowledged letters of appreciation received from Elizabeth Zefi and Dylan Nasser, who completed a school year as student representatives on the school board.
“Thank you for choosing me to represent the student body,” Zefi wrote. “I will forever remember this experience.”
Nasser also submitted a letter.
“I wanted to express my sincerest appreciation for the year I spent with you all, being one of the student representatives,” Nasser wrote. “It was a pleasure to sit alongside everyone and speak in front of the board on behalf of the students at Valley Central.”