The following update was posted on the Fairfax R-3 School District’s website by Superintendent Jeremy Burright and includes an update on school activities as well as a Board of Education summary for April 16, 2020:

We appreciate Mr. Doug Miller and Mr. Marshal Oswald for their dedicated and outstanding work on the Board of Education over the past several years. We also appreciate Mr. Mike Lewis accepting the election as president of the Fairfax R-3 Board of Education and Mrs. Samantha O’Riley for renewing her commitment to the board for another three years and for accepting the election as vice president of the board. We also acknowledge Mr. Brett Johnson and Mr. Miles Smith for becoming new board members. Board members still completing terms are Josh Oswald, Chris Smith, Jon Graves, and Mike Lewis. These are unpaid, voluntary, elected positions that require time, effort, dedication, and emotional commitment. If you see a board member, please thank them.

End of Year Procedures

School will end on May 15, 2020. New course work will be due on May 8, 2020, and the last week of school will be used to finish work for those students who have fallen behind since our closure has occurred. The week of the 10th through the 15th will also be used by students and staff to facilitate the checkout process in small groups. More detailed information will be sent to students, families, and staff by Mr. Barnes.

Class of 2020 students and their families have had to endure an emotional blow this spring as doubt has been cast on whether or not we will be able to hold once-in-a-lifetime events like graduation and senior trip. On April 16, 2020, the board unanimously approved to extend the Class of 2020’s access to fundraising money until July 1, 2021. While the school district will hold, and still approve expenditures, for the class of 2020 until then, we feel this will give ample time for our 2020 senior class to plan and participate in graduation and senior trip. The 2020 seniors will still need to plan and present a senior trip itinerary to the board prior to using their funds, but the funds will remain available until July 1, 2021.

Graduation has tentatively been planned for June 13, 2020. We will most likely utilize the football field this year and follow any social distancing orders we might still be under. The board approved all class of 2020 graduates pending completion of graduation requirements.

Prom is delayed, but not canceled. The students, sponsors, and parents of the junior class will need to work together to plan prom once we are able to congregate in large groups. This may be delayed until after graduation, but we anticipate it happening as soon as we are able.

Mr. Barnes will be contacting parents and students of the 2020 seniors in order to coordinate any senior class events that have been postponed due to the COVID-19 school closure.

Academics

There will be no APR or standardized testing in 2020. Students will also not be required to make up state mandated grade-level or End of Course exams that were missed during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Open Positions

We currently have openings for Spanish and upper level Math.

Finances

The district will be receiving an additional amount of money from the CARES Act which should offset lost revenues from a shortage in sales tax revenue. If our revenue stream stopped immediately, we would still have enough revenue to cover expenses through the end of the fiscal year and place some money in reserve. Our current fund balance is $1,514,770. Our year-to-date revenues are $1,947,148 and our year-to-date expenditures are $1,451,962.

The board also approved a modification to professional development expenditures to allow expenditures to reach only one-half of one percent of our state formula money. This allows us to stay in compliance with statutory requirements governing PD expenditures since we will most likely not spend our entire PD budget this fiscal year. Normally, we are required to spend an amount equal to one percent of our state formula money on PD for teachers.

Facility Upgrades

Currently we are in the process of finalizing the installation of our fire alarms. Electronic Contracting Company is on schedule to complete the work by the April 30 deadline.

The board also approved two other upgrades to our facility. The first was the installation of fiber-optic cable to connect the vocational building to our network through a physical connection. This upgrade has needed to occur for several years and this year we have the ability to offset 70% of the cost through federal ERATE dollars.

The second is the installation of video cameras in main areas of the building. This upgrade has also needed to occur and would have been a great benefit to the district at different times in the last three years.

Facility Maintenance

The board approved the following items for building maintenance and repair:

• Meyer Labs Inc. for refinishing work on our main gym floor in the summer of 2020.

• Porter Seamless Guttering for repair of the guttering on the west side of our main gym.

• Oelze Mowing for mowing services on the main district property and football field.

Technology

The board approved a contract with Launch, a provider of online learning services which is designed and run by the Springfield Missouri School District. This contract will allow us to access their services to expand our offering of elective courses. It will also allow us to offer services under MOCAP and cover us as a last resort when a certified teacher cannot be found in a core area.

Extra duty contracts

The board approved the slate of extra duty assignments as presented. Because there were candidates on the slate related to two board members, those members abstained from the vote.

The next board meeting date will be May 21, 2020, at 6:30 p.m.