VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Valley City Public Schools Superintendent Josh Johnson said we have fewer than 40 school days remaining in the 2022-2023 school year. Before we know it, the snow will be gone, grass will be green, and 109 senior students will be graduating from VCHS.
Johnson said below is a brief highlight regarding our continued study of school facilities, school safety plans, and yes, the potential for more winter weather next week in Valley City.
Facilities Study- Parent Advisory Meetings
In April, we will be meeting with a group of parents that have been invited to provide us with feedback on our school facilities at Valley City Public Schools. The school board will be receiving feedback from six advisory groups and will consider next steps to address our facility needs at a board meeting scheduled for April 19th. If you would like to know more about our study on school facilities or the options that we are considering, please see the attached document with this email or send me an email to josh.johnson@k12.nd.us. While we have invited more than 30 parents (elementary and secondary) to be part of our advisory meeting, we will always welcome more input and feedback from our parents and community members, please don’t hesitate to contact me/us with your questions or feedback on our facilities.
School Safety Plans
Our thoughts and prayers are extended to anyone impacted by the recent school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. We commend the courageous educators and law enforcement officers that visibily coordinated an effort to minimize the loss of lives in this tragedy. Valley City Public Schools continues to commit time, energy, and resources into addressing and improving school safety in our school district. This spring, all students and staff in our school district will participate in a training drill that will include an age-appropriate and ‘simulated’ evacuation to our rally points and reunification locations. This year, we have conducted several drills, including fire, lockdown, tornado, and evacuation. The purpose of our next evacuation drill is to ‘simulate’ a reunification process that would reunite students and parents during an emergency. Please know more information will be communicated with parents and guardians before this drill is conducted in our school district.
More Potential for Winter Weather
If we need to make any weather-related decisions, please know that we still consider the possibility of using a virtual learning day. If we need to cancel school or dismiss early, our plan is to NOT make-up this school day or the missed hours before the end of the school year. We have already used both storm days this school year and the weather has most definitely placed us in a category that we would consider the inclement weather as being very unusual or “extreme” for our school district. Regardless of the weather, we will have an exciting and strong finish to the school year. Whether we are sending 109 students towards their next journey in life, or advancing students to the next grade level, Valley City Public Schools will continue to strive to meet the individual learning needs of each and every student.
Below are several options the school board is looking as they ponder the best future facilities option for the school district. Click on the attachment below to learn more.