Waukee board hears strategic plan update, approves policies, staffing and construction milestones

Superintendent Dr. Buck presented a quarterly update on the Waukee Community School District strategic plan and the board of directors approved several routine business items, including policy second readings, handbook updates, staffing authorizations and construction milestones.

Dr. Buck summarized progress across the district’s five strategic priorities. Under Priority 1 (student success), he said transitional kindergarten registration has begun and noted interest at in-person and upcoming online sessions. He reported the district is piloting or expanding alternative programming with a “core” program currently in place at Waukee High School and Timberline to better support students who need specialized instruction at their home sites. Dr. Buck also said the district had recorded 121 mental-health referrals and 230 social-work referrals in the first semester, and that some schools had been identified for proficiency or learning-growth gaps under the Iowa school performance profiles; those schools are working through the Department of Education’s SAMI process.

On Priority 2 (connection and communication), Dr. Buck highlighted the district’s social media champions at each school and said the district has nearly 25,000 followers at the district level and over 44,000 followers across school accounts. He also described improvements to the enrollment process and weekly follow-up emails for newly enrolled families.

Priority 3 (investment in staff) included results from a recent employee engagement survey with a 77% participation rate and 91% of respondents saying they would recommend the district as a workplace. Dr. Buck said the district is expanding onboarding and training for associates, including three upcoming training offerings on assistive technology, disability awareness, and the role of associates in supporting instruction. He said roughly 400 associates have received CPI (crisis prevention intervention) training where required.

Priority 4 covered fiscal health and risk management. Dr. Buck said the district’s unspent authorized budget remains positive and its solvency position has improved year over year. The district has maintained its bond rating even while borrowing for capital projects. He warned the board about proposed property tax changes at the state level that could affect bonding capacity.

Under Priority 5 (operational effectiveness), Dr. Buck noted a Wilk/WILC solar project coming online in the near future and gave construction and facilities updates: North Middle School and the Wilkadeshan site (both referenced by administration) are ahead of schedule for fall 2025 openings, and the Waukee High School auditorium is on a phased timeline with an auditorium opening projected for fall 2026 and full project completion targeted for fall 2027. The board discussed a school security task force and whether state funding could support its recommendations; Dr. Buck said district work had already implemented many of the task force’s bullet-point recommendations.

After the update the board considered and approved routine agenda items. The board appointed Armel as the Waukee Community School District representative to the Dallas County Real Estate Assessment Conference; Armel accepted the nomination. The board approved the second reading of policies (no changes), the 2024–25 Beyond the Bell Handbook (which added language clarifying toilet-training expectations while acknowledging occasional accidents), current-year (FY24–25) and next-year (FY25–26) staffing positions as presented, and certified substantial completion for the Waukee High School Fine Arts addition and renovations site utility project. The board also approved change order number 1 for the Fine Arts utility project, which was a credit to the contract.

The board later voted to enter exempt and closed sessions under Iowa Code (sections discussed on the record) for employment-related strategy and to evaluate the professional competency of an individual; the motions were approved and the board returned to open session before adjourning.

No contested votes or roll-call dissent were recorded in the public portion of the meeting on the listed agenda items.