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Board roundup: $8.38M in bills, curriculum and assessment plans approved; tax-levy hearing set
Summary
At its meeting the board approved the consent agenda including about $8.38 million in bills, adopted the 2025–26 professional development, curriculum and assessment plans aligned to state rules, approved cooperative memberships and several facility bid authorizations, set a tax-levy hearing for Sept. 9, 2025, and moved to closed session.
The Independence School District Board of Education approved a slate of routine and policy items at its meeting, including the consent agenda with bills totaling approximately $8,376,563.28, and adopted the district’s professional development, curriculum and assessment plans for 2025–26.
Superintendent Dr. Grant reported K–12 enrollment at 14,262 (preK excluded) and noted 119 new hires this year; the district identified one open social studies position at Independence Academy and several special education vacancies being addressed with a staffing agency.
The board approved the professional development plan presented by Dr. Boight, who said the plan aligns building improvement plans with the district CSIP, Senate Bill 681 and MSEP standards and uses Learning Forward standards to evaluate effectiveness. The curriculum updates approved included elementary and secondary pacing changes, new assessment and testlet use in certain grades, and a new Physical Science course added to the 2025–26 program of studies. The assessment plan continues use of the STAR screener, MAP and ACCESS assessments in accordance with state requirements.
The board also approved memberships in multiple purchasing cooperatives to leverage group pricing, authorized letting bids for a combined storage/press box at George Caleb Bingham Middle School and for partial roof replacement at Glendel Elementary School, approved a modest increase to adult breakfast pricing (amount described as "15" in the transcript; units not specified), and set the district tuition rate for 2025–26 at $14,193.86.
The board re-adopted ethics policies required every two years and scheduled the tax-levy rate hearing for Sept. 9, 2025 at 5:45 p.m. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn to closed session citing Missouri statutes for legal matters, real estate, personnel and student issues (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 610.021(1), (2), (3), (6)).
