By Stephanie Vallez
Index Contributor
The West Liberty Community School District Board of Education held its regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024. Although the meeting only lasted about 20 minutes, the board managed to get a lot done.
The meeting was attended by all board members, as well as Superintendent Shaun Kruger, Secretary Abby Ortiz, ELC/Elementary Assistant Principal Dawn Kruse, High School Principal Brenda Arthur-Miller, Wesley Heath and Linley Heath.
During the Open Forum, Wesley Heath, 10th grade, approached the board. This is the time when visitors may address the board with any concerns that are not already on the agenda.
“I wanted to make the board aware of The Night of Nites coming up,” Heath said. This is an event sponsored by the Fine Arts Boosters and will feature dinner and entertainment.
The Night of Nites begins at 6 p.m. on Thursday March 7. As for the entertainment, Heath was happy to tell the board all about it.
“We will have performances from the show choir, jazz band and improv troupe,” Heath said. Tickets are on sale now for $20 each and can be obtained through the Fine Arts Boosters, either in person or online.
ELC/Elementary Assistant Principal Dawn Kruse shared information about a new opportunity for Special Education students, ages 18-21.
“We have been presented with an opportunity to become a partner with a program called Project SEARCH for our students with IEPs,” Kruse explained.
This program is available to students in the last year of their Individualized Education Program (IEP), aimed at students that need extra help and support through special education services.
SEARCH is intended to help them to obtain job experience and to transition to life after high school. This program is in partnership with the Muscatine school district.
“They provide the teacher,” Kruse said, “and so any of our students who are accepted into the program, they have to apply and do an interview for this, they would be moved to that teacher’s special education roster, and throughout the year they would do three different internships.”
Those internships will give the students job experience that is relevant to real world employment opportunities.
Unity Point has been a valuable resource for providing those internships. The students will be considered West Liberty students who are open-enrolled in Muscatine, so West Liberty will be responsible for providing transportation, and the money West Liberty receives for those students will be used to fund the Project SEARCH program.
The program is already looking appealing to students, as High School Principal Brenda Arthur-Miller explained.
“We have a student who’s interested in actually being a part of Project SEARCH next year, which is part of the reason that we’re bringing it to you now, but we also think that it could be a great opportunity for other kids as they transition out of high school. It gives them a chance to hone their skills, to really be able to find something that suits them, versus being just kind of thrown out there and trying to find a job,” Arthur-Miller said.
Most of the jobs have been at the hospital, mainly in the cafeteria and the custodial department, but other departments also have internships available for the right candidate.
There are also other districts in the area that have accepted the partnership with Project SEARCH, such as Wilton, Durant and West Branch.
The project is also looking at expansion into other businesses and industries.
“It’s a nice program,” Arthur-Miller said, “I think it’s going to be really beneficial for those kids who have the skillset to be able to work but maybe don’t know where to start. Some of those students often go to Goodwill or they might go to Crossroads, so this is a different path that offers more varied skills that they can hone.”
The board asked questions about insurance and the details of the internships before voting to approve of the partnership with Project SEARCH.
The rest of the meeting included policy readings and personnel changes. The board adjourned after about 20 minutes.
The next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, March 4 at 6 p.m. It will take place in the Boardroom on Elm Street as usual, and the agenda will include the Superintendent’s Report, the Ag Issues Presentation and a Legislative Update Discussion.