Superintendent Paula Wright Tackles First Meeting In District

Ms. Paula Wright joined the Oskaloosa School Board in open session for the first time on Tuesday night.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Oskaloosa Schools welcomed a new superintendent at the beginning of July. Paula Wright was hired to replace a departing Russ Reiter.

Wright took part in her first board meeting on Tuesday night, where the group tackled many different topics, including academic goals, behavioral and special education services and a review of the anti-bullying and harassment policy.

The board heard a report from curriculum director Ms. Wilson.

MAP assessment was used last year to help measure growth from the fall of 2017 to the fall of 2018. The district elected not to give the MAP test during the 2018-19 school year and instead will be moving to the FAST assessment.

With that move, the District Learning Team (DLT) asked that the board revise the goals to measure academic progress from the spring of 2017 to the spring of 2018.

New goals for the 2018-19 school year will be written by the DLT in August and then shared with the board.

In other action, Wright made a recommendation to the board that the district begin a search for a full-time Director of Student Services. “At this time, the district is in need of leadership in the area of special education and can expect improvement by having someone directly overseeing the special populations,” said Wright in her comments to the board.

This hire would replace the Take Action Proposal and Rosie who has worked with the district during the past year in regards to special needs students.

The board also approved moving forward with an RFP for the security camera system at the high school. The move was made in discussions with local law enforcement, and emergency management gave their input.

When reviewing the Anti-Bullying and Harassment board policy, the recommendation was to leave the policy as it’s written, because the current policy has all of the legal requirements needed by law.

The board approved the hiring of Rachel Brown for 3rd Grade Instructor. Kelsey Burton for High School Math. Lindsay Wesely as Special Education Instructor at the elementary. Vanessa Minner as Special Education Instructor at the elementary. Heather Hoven as part-time Spanish instructor.

The board accepted the resignation of Steve Overbergen, who was a 3rd Grade Instructor.