With state funding cuts, board discusses proactive vision for future

May 13, 2015

by Joash Tiarks
Bethany Reporter

At a special meeting May 4, after the culmination of more than an hour of discussion, the Okaw Valley School Board assigned superintendent Kent Stauder what amounts to a mini research project, some of which will deal with the possibility of closing the elementary school in Bethany.
Guest speaker Larry Dirks, Director of Field Services with the Illinois Association of School Boards, kicked off the meeting with a small presentation related to the district’s goals and objectives. Every few years the board reviews and updates their ‘Goals and Objectives” document, available on the okawvalley.org website, which is essentially a strategic plan for the coming years. Dirks’ presentation was aimed at giving the board tools to clarify and give focus to the objectives laid out in the document, outlining measurable steps toward their completion. This would help to give more clear direction as well as evaluate what progress has been made.
This is not the first time the veteran board has faced this process. The consensus among the board members was to remain proactive, with a long term plan, rather than try to react to whatever the state may or may not do.
“I don’t want to see us forced into anything,” board member Brooke Bartimus said. “I want to see us having a vision”.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.