The Jefferson City School District Board of Education met Thursday and discussed the continued struggles with transportation the district has been facing, along with athletic facility construction and test scores.
During the reports portion of the meeting, Superintendent Bryan McGraw shared a number of new AP courses that would be added next year, including music theory, pre-AP calculus, art portfolio and microeconomics.
He also shared that 29 staff members have signed their children up for a staff, teacher and employee preschool so far.
McGraw also reviewed plans for the bond issue, which could include payment of certificates of participation, building a new early childhood center, building and expanding at Nichols Career Center, moving Jefferson City Academic Center to Southwest's old building and renovating buildings across the district. McGraw said he planned to get the word out about the bond issue to the community in the new year.
Deputy Superintendent Heather Beaulieu highlighted Jefferson City School District's Missouri Assessment Program scores. JC Schools finished higher than the state average in English language arts and 5 percent below the state average in math, but the gap has been closing in the last few years.
Chief of Operations Dawn Berhorst said the district is still struggling with transportation. The district currently is 14 drivers short. She said next year the district will try out a program with JeffTran to get help with an evening route for students.
Berhorst said the district had challenges with the local office of its transportation provider because of management turnover in the office. This has created a greater responsibility for the district, she said.
"We just feel like we're ... doing a lot of hustle and urgent working that really should be our transportation vendor's responsibility," Berhorst said.
In January, Berhorst said, the district will put out a request for proposals for transportation unless directed otherwise by the board.
"Since hiring is an issue across industries, why do we think that switching vendors would solve that problem?" Anne Bloemke-Warren asked.
Berhorst replied it might not solve that problem, but it could solve the problem of inconsistency caused by constant leadership turnover.
The board had no issue with opening up for bids in January.
Weather, supply chain and labor issues have delayed parts of the athletic facility construction, said Frank Underwood, Director of Facilities, Safety and Transportation. The CCHS project is still on track with its timeline, but JCHS issued a new timeline for its facilities. JCHS has pushed its timeline to late February, but the baseball field should be done in January.
The board also heard an overview of the district's audit, which did not unearth any major items of concern.