After a short selection process, the Park Hill School District Board of Education received a recommendation last week to stay with current bus provider First Student.
At the Thursday, Jan. 23 board meeting, the board heard a presentation from assistant superintendent Dr. Paul Kelly. The district's contract with First Student expires in June and as part of the search for a provider issued a request for proposal (RFP) last month. The request included requirements to improve customer service, including implementation of a bus tracking app for families.
First Student, Apple Bus Company, Durham School Services and Student Transportation of America all submitted proposals, which were reviewed by a committee.
Last year, the district restructured its school start times to try to decrease the number of bus drivers needed. Kelly also reminded the board of additional steps taken by the district, including hiring a transportation coordinator and building a transportation facility.
Kelly said the committee considered the proposals, interviews, references and costs when reviewing the four companies and recommended the board continue working with First Student.
The board is scheduled to vote on this recommendation at its Thursday, Feb. 6 meeting.
Dr. LuAnn Halverstadt, principal at Graden Elementary School, recently announced her June 30 retirement, which was approved by the board last week.
Halverstadt spent 28 years of her 33-year education career at Park Hill. She started teaching in 1986 in Nebraska before coming to Park Hill in 1991 as a certified recess supervisor at Chinn Elementary. She taught at Chinn and then Prairie Point Elementary before becoming principal at Graden in 2002.
She earned the 2009-2010 Clay-Platte Distinguished Elementary Principal award. Under her leadership, Graden earned a place on the Leader in Me Lighthouse Academic Honor Roll this year and received recognition as a Missouri Gold Star School in 2003.
Also at the meeting, the board approved the academic calendar for the 2020-2021 school year. School will begin Monday, Aug. 24 and May 28, 2021, is the last day of school, depending on snow days. Winter break would begin Dec. 23 with students returning to school Jan. 4, 2021. Spring break would run from March 29 through April 2.
The Missouri legislature passed a law that controls when local districts can start the school year. This year, Aug. 24 is the earliest possible start date for all public schools in Missouri. This impacts when the first semester ends, among other things.
The committee worked to end the school year before Memorial Day, based on feedback from families. This made it impossible to also build snow days into the calendar, but the district added the option of a late start on some bad weather days, based on feedback from the calendar survey.
The district canceled school on Friday, Jan. 24 due to weather conditions, pushing the end of the school year to Wednesday, May 27.