WSD BOARD MEETING REPORT

The Wentzville School District Board of Education held a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 23, that was live-streamed via the new WSD Board of Education YouTube channel and can be viewed by visiting YouTube. The agenda and available supporting documents can be viewed online under Public Access to BoardDocs.

Dr. Tormala, superintendent of schools, began the business portion of the meeting by providing comments and sharing District highlights. View the slideshow.

Rick Angevine, chief financial officer, presented the annual finance program evaluation. Mr. Angevine reported clean independent financial audit reports, balanced budgets, solid but not excessive fund balances, fully funded capital plans, solid projection practices, and the steps being taken to create a positive financial culture within the District. The program evaluation also included the six progress measures presented at the Dec. 7, 2022, Work Session to meet CSIP Goal #3. The program evaluation is included in the attached presentation.

Linked below is the Semester 1 discipline data for the 2022-2023 school year. This data was presented to the Board and will be reported after the conclusion of each semester for strong District transparency. The first page of the report includes the District’s discipline data with the second page providing a description of the categories. Read more.

The Board approved moving the date of the regularly scheduled March 16, 2023, Board Meeting to March 30, 2023.

The Board approved moving forward with developing construction documents for a potential REACH/Early Childhood Facility.

The Board approved the 2021-2024 updated agreement with Wentzville National Education Association (WNEA). Below is the new salary schedule that will go into effect at the start of the 2023-24 school year. The base starting salary is now $44,000, up from $40,968 last year. They also approved a Come Home initiative to help recruit and retain top-teaching talent. Read more.

Congratulations to WSD students — Bryce Herin, Holt High School junior, and Riley Dreyer, Holt High School sophomore — for being selected for the Missouri All-State Band. Kudos to Liberty High School senior Jordon Brown, who was named to the first-ever Missouri Music Educators All-State "The Collective'' ensemble in the category of Producer/Beatmaker.

Three Timberland students have been elected to serve as Presiding Officers in 2023 after participating in the 74th Annual Youth and Government Conference. Junior Ayiana Baynes was elected Secretary of State; junior Trinity Kiner was elected Lieutenant Governor; and junior Jade Wilson was elected Speaker of the House.

Kelly Taylor, building IA at Wabash Elementary, was recognized for her life-saving intervention of performing the Heimlich maneuver on Liam while substituting in his classroom. We're so grateful to have such amazing staff like Kelly!

Calling all WSD graduates or residents! Come Home and become a part of the WSD family.

As part of our Come Home initiative that was developed in coordination with WNEA, teachers who are WSD residents or graduates can bring all their years of experience for the newly revised salary schedule. First-year teachers who are Wentzville graduates can earn up to $7,500 ($2,500 each year) for a three-year loyalty incentive, and any Wentzville graduate who comes home from working elsewhere to teach at WSD will receive a one-time $2,000 stipend.

What are you waiting for? Come Home to WSD for the 2023-2024 school year!

Learn more.

The Board has approved a District reorganization for the 2023-24 school year that will realign the District's talented staff to improve the District's ability to streamline and increase efficient communication across multiple levels, increase collaboration, facilitate a unified vision, budget with efficiencies in mind, allow more manageable workloads, and offer structured and logical workflows.

Extensive research of 15 school districts showcased WSD's need for a reorganization and added positions at the administrative level. Much of the reorganization will incorporate the District's current team, but there will also be a few critical new hires that will need to be made.

The District is hiring a chief general counsel, director of technology operations, and a new assistant principal at Wentzville Middle School. Look for these job postings in the coming weeks.

The WSD Board approved the hiring of Angela Hawkins as the director of maintenance, effective March 20, 2023. Hawkins currently serves as the assistant director of facilities at Saint Louis University. She has 12 years of facility management experience and is a certified electrician.

Read more.

The next Board Meeting is set for Thursday, March 30, 2023. (This meeting has been rescheduled from March 16, 2023).