Life in the Griswold Community School District is slowly get back to normal, after cases of COVID-19 started popping up after an exposed student attended Prom on April 10th. Superintendent Dave Henrichs…

The latest trio of positives resulted in very few additional quarantines.

He remains hopeful that by the end of this week, nearly all the affected students and staff will be back in the building. During the Board’s meeting last month (March), they voted to require, as of April 5th, masks in school only during the school day, and on district transportation. The rule does not apply to events such as Prom, but Henrichs noted some were taking precautions during the event by wearing their masks. Masks are not required at Graduation, and outside sporting events.

In other business, Superintendent Henrichs say the Board approved a Snow Day make-up plan, which extends the last day of school from Friday May 21st to Tuesday, May 25th. The last day for staff will be May 28th. Additional, mandatory training will take place on the teachers’ own time. If they provide a certificate of training completion to their building Principal, their last day would then be May 27th.

They also approved an HVAC automated system/service contract, and discussed filling Vocal Teacher position. A Superintendent sharing agreement with the Lenox Community School District, and a two-year renewal of a contract with Dave Henrichs, were renewed. His contract includes a $5,000 increase for next school year, a zero raise in year-two, and money set aside for health insurance benefits upon his retirement. The package settlement was 1.9%, which was less than both teacher groups settled for at the two schools (Lenox and Griswold).

The agreement saves each district about $100,000 each year. The Board approved Book Fees for 2021-22, and repair of the Auditorium stage floor, as well as a contract adjustment for the Transportation Director. The Griswold School Board also discussed the possibility of moving to a K-12 Principal, following the resignation of Mr. Billy Hiatt.

The hope is to have formal finalist interviews for the position begin April 28th. The Griswold School Board approved three new hires:

And Henrichs was pleased to announce the District will be receiving $690,000 from the ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) Fund. He said the money does not become available until June 1st, and the previous round of funds must have been spent before then, prior to requesting the additional funding.

Henrichs said his goals are to find ways to meet the needs of kids, and find ways to save the District’s General Funds. They have until Sept. 2023 to use this third round funding. In the first round, they received around $77,000, while the second round delivered over $330,000. Congress set aside approximately $13.2 billion of the $30.75 billion allotted to the Education Stabilization Fund through the CARES Act for the fund. (Learn more, HERE)

Congress set aside approximately $13.2 billion of the $30.75 billion allotted to the Education Stabilization Fund through the CARES Act for the fund. (Learn more, HERE)