(Griswold, Iowa) – The Griswold Community School District’s Board of Education, Monday evening, approved two new hires and one resignation. Superintendent Dave Henrichs…

The Board held a public hearing on the 2023-24 School Year Calendar, during which there were no comments, and one slight change, with regard to the Thanksgiving holiday.

And, they approved the Modified Supplemental Amount (MSA) and Plan for Dropout Prevention and At-Risk Programs. Essentially, the District is requesting $47,825 in aid for those programs, Henrichs said. He said also, District Staff and parents will receive a survey in the next few months with regard to a possible four-day school week, as part of the Board strategy to attract and retain staff. If the idea comes to fruition, it wouldn’t even happen at the minimum, the 2024-25 School Year.

Henrichs said with an increase in Open Enrollment numbers, the Board has also been looking at ways to improve the District’s Sports and Activities programs.

In other business, the Griswold School Board discussed and reviewed various other policies from other school districts, with regard to retirements, and asked administrators to start work on a policy for the District and determining how many people would be eligible, and coming up with a cost estimate. Any payments made in the future would have to come from the Management Fund if it’s called an “Early Retirement” or “Retirement Plan,” versus the General Fund. Administrators will check into the legality of handling the funds in that manner.

A retirement package, Henrichs said, is supposed to be a “Financial tool” for the District to use, and not an employee benefit.