The New Bloomfield R-3 School District Board of Education got a glimpse into the role of school guidance counselors during their Thursday evening meeting.
Middle and high school guidance counselor Dara Reinkemeyer and elementary counselor Siobhanna Mayotte updated the board on their activities.
Last year was the first year for the New Bloomfield High School Flex program, which allows students to gain work experience.
"I think at the end of the year, five or six seniors were involved in it," Reinkemeyer said. "One kid actually was in it all year and he's actually still working at that job, so it was a really good success."
Reinkemeyer told the board she has worked with colleges to set up Zoom meeting with students so that they could meet with school representatives.
During last spring's school closure, Reinkemeyer updated the entire course catalog and had it added to the district's website.
In addition to academic tasks, Reinkemeyer also helps students with discipline and mental health issues.
Reinkemeyer has a record of the most critical conversations she has with students.
"When Dara and I discussed doing this, we discussed how to make sure that the data was telling us what we wanted to tell us," Principal Paul Cloudwright said.
Reinkemeyer keeps track of what those discussions are about and the frequency of serious topics, such as anxiety and depression, self harm and suicidal ideation.
"It allows you to see some patterns with some kids and then allows us to take the steps that we need to take," Reinkemeyer said.
Board President Terri Sweeten asked Reinkemeyer if there were any changes she recommended or if there was an additional support the school board could provide.
Reinkemeyer said a lot of her focus was on the older students and helping to ensure they had what they need to graduate, as well as finding solutions to the serious student needs.
"The ideal thing would be to have two counselors," Reinkemeyer said. "You could have one focusing on the social emotional part and one on college and career-readiness."
Board Vice President Tod Schattgen suggested additional support could allow Reinkemeyer to build relationships earlier.
"Then you can also build relationships with kids that don't have problems right now that would come see you in the future," Schattgen said.
Sweeten asked Superintendent Sarah Wisdom about finances. The pandemic has had a significant impact on the finances of schools across the country - in addition to additional expenses related to sanitation and distance learning, in Missouri states also had to deal with less state funding.
Wisdom said the district might see financial impacts for years, explaining that the district has put on pause a concession stand construction project. Wisdom said despite the uncertainty, the district was still in good shape.
"I just would not build a concession stand right now," Wisdom said. "But we're ready to go with that concession stand when it's time."
In other business, the board approved a testing contract with Jeannie Imhoff, a psychological examiner. Board members also discussed an anonymous self-evaluation they completed.
Looking over the results of a self-evaluation survey, where board members rated board performance and came back with responses that sometimes varied, the board decided to have each member come up with two areas they want to further discuss and two goals to improve performance in those areas.