Southwest Dubois Moves Forward on District Projects

Director of Community Engagement Diana Bolton gave a presentation to the board on recent activities and future plans. This year, registrations were migrated from Power School to Final Forms, which has been viewed as more user-friendly for parents. One feature that has proven especially popular is the ability to copy information already on file for siblings. Final Forms was already being used by student athletes, so the move consolidated the digital paperwork trail onto one platform. 

Completed registrations before school reflected improvement in a year over year comparison, with 268 students not registered by the first day of school last year and 80 students this year. The Back to School Raider Bash was August 28, with multiple non-profits and city services in attendance. The event was paired with Homecoming, which helped to increase participation. 

The department has three new programs this year, including one that serves as a Dual Language Immersion (DLI) family connection. Membership in Los Raiders at the high school is up to 152 students, and Cultura Conectada at the middle school is up to 115 students. This weekend, both clubs will be at the Latino Festival this weekend to sell beverages and volunteer throughout the event. 

In the highlight of the month, the District was awarded $72,500 for the school year through a school safety grant, which is a significant increase of at least $30,000 over prior awards. Those funds will be utilized for the full-time SRO position, and a part-time SRO will also be added this year. If the increased funds continue moving forward, the corporation hopes to permanently add a second full-time SRO position. 

The board held a lease and additional appropriation hearing for the proposed bond project. In order to move forward, the corporation had to demonstrate that the rental to be paid to the building corporation is a fair and reasonable fee for the proposed improvements. Before being able to appropriate any funds received as bond proceeds, the board had to conduct the hearing regarding the additional appropriations of those funds. The lease is for 2026 improvement and expansion projects. With no public comments, the hearing was closed and a resolution was passed, executing the lease agreement. An additional appropriation resolution was also adopted. A third resolution was passed, assigning construction bids and contracts to the building corporation. The final passed resolution authorized the fourth supplement to the master Continuing Disclosure Undertaking Agreement.