The April board meeting was a whirlwind of excitement. After the new board members were sworn in, we were given laptops where we could log in to see the agenda and minutes on the district’s new platform for sharing.
First on the agenda was election of officers, and you may have seen that Sarah Adams-Orr was elected President, with Mark Jenkins as Vice-President. The two of them will work with the Superintendent to develop the agendas for the meetings which, of course, the President will facilitate. Other officers selected were the Board Secretary, Board Treasurer, Missouri School Board Association (MSBA) delegate, and the MSBA alternate delegate. I am happy to have been selected as the MSBA alternate delegate, as I really enjoy legislative topics and being involved in the workings of the state with the local district. We have two wonderful state representatives who are helping public education better impact more and more students in increasingly better ways. The MSBA helps our school boards do that, too, and one of their functions is to help us work with both the legislature and the public.
The minutes for that April board meeting will be corrected and approved at the upcoming May meeting, and I believe they will be viewable at https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/…/SB_MeetingListing… It’s a new system, so there are understandably some kinks still to be worked out, but hopefully it will be helpful to the community in terms of increased transparency, which will allow increased accountability, something needed by any organization wishing to continually improve.
The next Ozark School Board meeting will be this Thursday, May 11, and the agenda for that meeting should hopefully be visible soon at that same link, https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/…/SB_MeetingListing…
UPDATE: The May meeting of the Ozark School Board has been moved to 3:30pm at the OIC. Prior to that (all day) will be a combination of closed sessions, work sessions, and open sessions. Be sure to check the posted agenda for updates on times and locations.
Early reports indicate the public meeting with begin at 4pm, but I’m not sure I’ve seen the final agenda/start time. I do know that the day is reserved for an all-day “work session”, and I believe “work sessions” of public bodies are usually open to the public, but I’ve not yet heard a definitive answer for this one, nor yet seen the agenda with the time and location for that. I will pass that along to you all when I do. Again, I might not be correct on the work session, so thank you for bearing with me patiently as I learn all the ropes, too!
You may have noticed that more and more pieces of the agenda are becoming available for viewing by the public as there are now links to the various administrative reports. I’ve received several contacts regarding maintenance issues, and I would encourage everyone who has questions or concerns about the buildings to start with the teacher or building principal, then, if needed, make their way up through the chain of responsibility. (The District’s organizational chart can be found at https://www.ozarktigers.org/domain/879 ) If needed, though, any member of the public can address the board by coming to the meeting and signing up with a listing of the relevant part of the agenda or the administrative report they would like to discuss. Just about any topic is included in those reports, but community members wishing to add an agenda item can write to the superintendent and fill out a form to request an agenda item be added as well. (That has to be done 5 days before the meeting, so it’s too late for the May meeting — please accept my apologies for not telling you sooner on that one!)
If you don’t need to speak publicly to the board, anyone can also write to the board with their concerns. Board member District-hosted email addresses can be found under each member’s picture at https://www.ozarktigers.org/domain/69 Soon, I hope to have a dedicated phone for board business and will list that number on the website as well. We are still exploring some newly-discovered issues (or maybe I am still learning how to properly access everything) with board emails being delivered promptly, so, please, if you send me a message and I don’t reply within a day or so, please feel free to forward (or simply carbon-copy) it to my non-school email address ChristinaforOzark@yahoo.com
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you all in ensuring Ozark schools are the best! I hope to see at least some of you this Thursday. 
**Please note that all thoughts and opinions expressed by me are my own.
I speak solely for myself and do not intend to represent the Board to you in any way in anything I say.
I do, however, fully intend to do my job representing YOU to the board! 😉