STC School Resource Officer Vern Jefferson and Toledo Police Chief Dan Quigley stand before the board presenting data, goals, and takeaways from the first year of the SRO program. PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER

The June 17 edition of the STC school board meeting got started right at five and with no public comments went straight to work.

Sam Peska gave a presentation going through standardized testing data from the district. She highlighted the dip scene after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the efforts taken to return back to pre-pandemic results.

Continuing with presentations STC’s Student Resource Officer Vern Jefferson and Toledo Police Chief Dan Quigley were next up in front of the board. The dynamic duo shared data, goals, and future plans, in regards to South Tama’s SRO Program.

Vern highlighted many aspects of his first school year but the topic of relationships with students always came to the top. Chief Quigley even mentioned having Jefferson around the students has slowly started to rebuild rapport with the community after some previous events in the Toledo Police Department that put a serious strain on that relationship.

Some future goals are to develop a student safety council, threat assessment team, and work through a preventative attendance issue plan. A highlight from the action items was the higher of a sign language interpreter for the coming school year.

PHOTO BY JONATHAN. MEYER

The board landed on a decision over substitute teacher pay, option to increase their rates and add a bonus incentive. Pay for a short term sub was increased from $130-$140 a day, well long-term subs were increased from $135-$145 a day. In addition after every 25 days of subbing in the district a $250 bonus will be paid to said individual. The board agreed the update in pay and bonus offered puts the district in a more competitive position and hopes to retain more subs.

Once again as a discussion item, a district wide PPEL vote was floated. Needing a decision by the next meeting at the end of July, the board is looking to gather feedback before making any monetary commitment to the vote. Superintendent John Cain pushed forward with the idea of assembling a committee of community members and continuing to gauge interest along with informing and educating district stakeholders.

With a month until a final decision needs to be made, expect to see additional information about a committee or interest survey on the district social media pages. The next STC school board meeting will be July 22 at 5 p.m. in the partnership center.

PHOTO BY JONATHAN. MEYER