SJSD hosts board meeting Monday night

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- The St. Joseph School District Board of Education held it's monthly meeting on Monday, April 28 at the Troester Media Center, located at 3401 Renick St.

Last month's BOE meeting covered important topics across the district, including proposed salary schedules, curriculum, and attendance reports.

The board also discussed the district’s long-range plan and outlined its next steps.

Rick Gehring, a St. Joseph School District Board of Education member, announced his resignation at the board's annual reorganization meeting on April 14. The SJSD is looking to fill this position.

Regarding the open seat on the St. Joseph school board, officials said a special meeting will be held to review applications, followed by another meeting to conduct interviews.

The SJSD School Board also discussed a 'Plan B' following the failure of Proposition 2 on the April election ballot, which would have funded the construction of two new high schools in the St. Joseph School District.

Superintendent Gabe Edgar said at Monday night’s board meeting that district officials still support a two-high school model, but they will need to determine how to move forward in achieving that goal.

"We’ve begun discussions, but we’ve only had one administrative meeting so far," Edgar said. "It’s too early for me to say anything definitively, but we’ve brought the architect back into the conversation, and hopefully, he can put together a timeline for what that looks like."

Edgar mentioned that the district should not focus solely on the two high schools, but also prioritize addressing issues at local middle and elementary schools.

"You can't sit back and ignore the issues," Edgar said. "We have a middle school model that’s broken, and our feeder patterns are also broken. So, I think it’s important to discuss the system as a whole, not just focus on the two high schools."