VCPS School board March 8 meeting recap
A special meeting was held by the The Valley City Public School School Board on Wednesday, March 8th in the District Office Conference Room.
At the meeting, the board discussed enrollment and staffing needs for the 2023-2024 school year. The enrollment data is based upon school enrollment reports from February 6, 2023.
Enrollment at Jefferson Elementary is projected at 292 students, which is down six students as of February 6. The enrollment at Washington is projected with an increase of four students to 222 from 218. Total enrollment of the two schools is projected to be 514, down two students from February of this year.
There is a projected increase in students in the Valley City Junior High School, grades 7 and 8. That number is 163, up from 154 as of February 6 of 2023. The biggest drop is the projected enrollment at the senior high, grades 9-12. That is projected at 325, down from 367. Total projected enrollment for secondary grades 7-12 is 488, down from 521. The total projected enrollment in grades K-12 is 1,002. That is down from 1,037 as of February 6, 2023.
This year, Valley City’s 2023 graduating class has 114 students. The projection for the graduating class of 2024 is 80. That is the biggest drop of any of the grades K-12.
For staffing, Jill Burns, a Title 1 Teacher at Washington Elementary has officially announced her retirement. Which will leave them with one less staff member as an adjustment.
Also at the meeting, the school board received and accepted the resignation of Dan Larson, Valley City Junior High School Principal. Mr. Larson has worked in the Valley City School District for 13 years and will be moving on to become the Superintendent at Maple Valley Schools for the 2023-2024 school year.
“I don’t know if there is anyone in the district that is more loyal, hardworking, committed, dedicated, shirt off your back kind of guy. I mean there are just so many adjectives and descriptions that describe Dan and everything he has done for the school district,” Superintendent Josh Johnson said. “There are so many situations, where it doesn’t matter if it’s Saturday night at 10 o’clock or Sunday morning at 9 a.m., he’ll drop anything for the school district, for kids, for staff members and I think that is going to be one of the things that is extremely hard for us to replace.”
With Mr. Larson’s resignation, the board is now looking at a restructuring of the secondary principal position. Currently the 7-9 principal is the junior high principal and the 10-12 is the senior high principal. Superintendent Johnson
said a lot school districts of similar size to Valley City go with a principal/assistant principal model. The assistant principal would report to the building principal and superintendent and their duties would include but are not limited to: Student management, leadership resource, parent resource, staff/administration resource and district involvement.
“Again with the change that is here (Larson’s resignation) as well as some of the declining enrollment, but there is an opportunity not only to change the structure of this but to create a model that fits more to our school size,” Superintendent Johnson said. ‘But also an opportunity to save some dollars for the district.”
In a release sent out on March 9th, Superintendent Johnson shares, “Last night, the Valley City Public School Board accepted the resignation for Mr. Dan Larson. Dan has been our junior high principal since 2010 and will become the new superintendent at Maple Valley Public Schools beginning in July 2023. Please help congratulate and thank Mr. Larson for his commitment, hard work, and contributions to our students, staff, and school district for the past 13 years.”
He continues, “A search for a 7-12 Valley City High School Assistant Principal for the 20232024 school year will begin in the next few days. We look forward to announcing this new hire around mid-April.”