WELLMAN

Gov. Reynolds signed two controversial bills into law earlier this year that directly affect schools: the first, signed in March, restructured the state’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs), and the second, signed in April, allows teachers and staff to carry guns on school grounds. At their work session Monday night, the Mid-Prairie school board contemplated how these laws might affect the school district in the 2024-2025 school year.

The June 24 work session primarily dealt with reviewing school handbooks and policies, and no official action was taken.

Grant Wood AEA services

When it comes to AEAs, it seemed no one in the community at large was in favor of changing their structure and funding when the topic was discussed at legislative briefings with Sen. Driscoll and Rep. Hora earlier this year. However, the Mid-Prairie board sees an opportunity to do things better as a result of this change.

Primarily, some services the Grant Wood AEA had been providing the district at high cost can be provided in-house for less – and in a way that is more beneficial for students and staff.

“The best example is the mentoring program that we used to pay almost $80,000 for,” Superintendent Brian Stone said. “All of a sudden, we’re like, Wait a second. We can do this, and we can not only do it, but we can do it better for our staff, and have people just accessible.”

Stone said that Grant Wood is “very reputable” and has provided “good service,” which the district has been “a little spoiled with” compared to other districts working with different AEAs. But if given the choice, “I would rather pay our people for some time” instead of using the AEA, he said.

“We can keep that money in our community,” board President Jake Snider agreed.

Stone also noted that special education services provided by Grant Wood are “really not changing going into next year.”

Weapons in the school district

The board considered whether they should update their policy on Weapons in the School District to reflect new legislation that allows teachers and other school employees to obtain a professional permit to carry guns on school grounds.

Two concerns will have to be addressed before the board decides: staff interest and insurability.

“You’ve got to have interest from staff,” Snider said. “How do you have that conversation?”

If staff were interested in being armed at school, the district would have to go about finding an insurance carrier that would accept that risk.

The district’s insurance provider, EMC Insurance, had indicated in the past (in context of the skeet club) that “you should have a policy that says there’s no firearms on campus,” Business Manager Jeff Swartzendruber said. “They were very pointed in going that direction. So, I think until the climate changes to where EMC, or whoever our carrier is, says we could consider doing that, I don’t think we [should change the policy].”

“There is a lot of discussion with this [policy] that isn’t going to be resolved tonight or in another meeting,” board member Ryan Schlabaugh said. “You know, what does law enforcement say? What’s our staff saying, what’s our admin saying? What do all of those groups feel comfortable with IF our insurer says we’re on board with you?”

The board agreed to continue this discussion when all members were present.

The Mid-Prairie school board will next meet on Monday, July 8 at 6:15 p.m. in the Central Office Community Room for their regular business meeting.