Park Hill looks ahead to 2034

The Park Hill School District is moving forward with its Park Hill 2034 long-range planning project, with an update presented to the Board of Education last week.

Kevin Nelson and Lana Thorpe, representatives of Hollis and Miller Architects, shared an update with the board Thursday, Aug. 24 on the long-range planning process and the facility and community data collection process. The district is in phase two of a five-phase plan, which involves data collection from various sources. The district has conducted facility assessments to compare to previous data, conducted an educational capacity analysis and looked at demographic projections. 

To gather community input, two meeting have been scheduled – the first will be from 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6 at Park Hill High School and the second will be from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7 at Park Hill South High School.

A community survey is also available through the website at parkhill.k12.mo.us. 

Later in September and into October, the Park Hill 2034 team will conduct building visits with staff and at the Thursday, Oct. 12 board meeting will present information gathered to date as well as stakeholder input.

From there, the district will develop its planning priorities for the next decade, explore options and eventually adopt the best plan.

Also at the meeting, the board heard from assistant superintendent of human resources Dr. Amy Dillon that the district was recently presented insurance rate increases that exceed costs negotiated with teachers in April and the budget that was approved in June.

The district’s benefit open enrollment period begins in October. The administrator reported the district is currently working with the insurance advisory committee to evaluate and communicate all options that will be available to employees starting in January 2024.