The Keokuk Community School District Board of Directors is scheduled for a regular board meeting at 6:00 p.m. on August 17. The packet combines routine consent-agenda business with financial reports, enrollment and literacy updates, building reports, legislative priorities, insurance coverage, financial policy, and a potential future public hearing related to the sale of the CHC Building.
Key Items on the Agenda
Additional $5 Million in Liability Coverage
The board is scheduled to consider an additional liability insurance policy. EMC has offered the district the option to purchase $5 million in additional liability coverage from Vantage for $9,766.51.
The packet identifies this as an action item but does not document a decision on whether the district will purchase the additional coverage.
Financial Policy Targets
The agenda includes an action item titled “Suspending the Financial Targets of Financial Policy.” The packet identifies Policy 701.05 and its regulation in connection with the proposal.
The extracted packet does not provide additional explanation of which financial targets would be suspended, how long a suspension would last, or the financial effect. Those details remain an issue to watch during the meeting.
Potential Sale of the CHC Building
The board is scheduled to consider setting a public hearing for the sale of the CHC Building. The packet does not provide a proposed hearing date, sale price, buyer, or other terms in the extracted material.
Setting a hearing would be a procedural step toward further consideration; the packet does not establish that a sale has been approved.
Legislative Priorities
The board will also consider legislative priorities supported by a packet document listing votes on proposed 2026 IASB Legislative Resolutions.
The highest totals shown are Student Achievement, 25 votes; Unfunded Mandates, 12; Special Education, 12; Property Taxes, 11; School Funding Policy, 9; and Tax Base, 9. Mental Health and Supplemental State Aid each received 8 votes, while Private School Choice received 5.
Major Financial Items
More Than $1.1 Million in Vendor Payments Listed
Bills and claims are included on the consent agenda. The vendor totals report covering August 4 through August 17, 2026 lists $1,122,838.12 in total payments.
Major entries include:
- $399,945.15 to Brockway Mech & Roof Co. Inc. for construction.
- $102,098.78 to Central Lee Community School District for open-enrollment tuition.
- $92,000 to BlueAlley Technology Solutions LLC for technology supplies.
- $66,826.92 to Johnston Community School District for special-education tuition.
- $58,863.63 to Kansas City Behavioral Health for residential tuition.
- $53,853.12 to Southeastern Community College for educational services.
- $48,922.50 to Access Systems for copier-related costs.
- $39,399.50 to Alliant Energy for electricity.
- $21,050 to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for instructional materials, identified elsewhere in the board report as MAP Testing K-12.
- $18,025.43 to The Math Learning Center for instructional materials including Bridges workbooks and manipulatives.
These expenditures appear within the consent-agenda financial materials and should not be described as newly approved until the board acts on the agenda.
July Financial Position
The packet includes financial reports for the period ending July 31, 2026, when the fiscal year was reported as 8% complete.
The financial summary reports July 31 fund balances including $4,798,212 in the General Fund, $2,053,885 in Management, $1,179,186 in PPEL, $122,324 in the Activity Fund, $8,203,234 in Sales Tax, and $347,663 in Sales Tax Debt Service.
The report notes that General Fund state aid is paid over ten months from September through June. It also states that, as of the July report, zero months of General Fund teacher and support-staff payroll had been paid, an important timing consideration when interpreting early-year expenditure percentages.
Enrollment and School Updates
August Enrollment Snapshot
An informational registration update provides current registration percentages and enrollment figures for several buildings:
- George Washington: 92% registered, with 190 enrollments and growing.
- Hawthorne: 89% registered, with 513 enrollments and 5 dual-enrolled students.
- Middle School: 87% registered, with 401 enrollments and 4 dual-enrolled students.
- High School: 81% registered, with 527 enrollments.
A separate August enrollment report lists elementary grade enrollment ranging from 82 students in Grade 1 to 122 in Grade 3. Kindergarten was listed at 117 students across six sections, with the district anticipating 120 students once pending registrations are completed, which would bring the classrooms to 20 students each before accounting for students spending portions of the day in special-education classrooms.
Building Goals and Academic Progress
Building administrators are scheduled to report on their goals, successes, and areas of struggle. The packet includes goals established for May 2026, providing a framework for the information the board is expected to receive.
Among those goals:
- Torrence targeted growth for 100% of students on the PELI assessment in English language arts, with a focus on comprehension, vocabulary, and oral language.
- George Washington targeted use of at least three engagement strategies in daily reading lessons by all elementary teachers, tied to LETRS-based literacy components, with a goal of a 20% increase in student scores.
- Hawthorne targeted at least 20% improvement in fluency for students in grades 2–5 through structured practice or small groups three times per week for 20 minutes.
- Keokuk Middle School targeted an increase in the average writing score on the Iowa State Assessment of Student Progress from 2.38 to 2.6, supported by a building-wide writing strategy and three milestone assessments.
- Keokuk High School targeted increased classroom engagement, including at least two engagement-focused strategies per teacher per semester and weekly PLC review and reflection.
The packet presents these as building goals rather than documented meeting outcomes.
Literacy and Family Feedback
The board is scheduled to receive Parent Literacy Survey Results as an informational item. The survey was conducted as part of the Comprehensive Literacy Grant to measure family satisfaction with district literacy instruction.
The packet says responses were overall favorable, while comments provided feedback about curriculum materials, scheduling, and student engagement that can be used to improve literacy instruction. Identifying comments involving students or staff were excluded from the material provided to the board.
The survey report is dated May 2026 and records 188 respondents. Questions addressed whether instructional materials help students learn, whether students are becoming more confident in reading and writing, whether families receive sufficient information, whether literacy skills are improving, whether materials reflect varied cultures and experiences, and participation in school-sponsored or community literacy events.
Consent Agenda
The consent agenda packages several routine matters for consideration through a single motion, discussion, and vote. It includes:
- The meeting agenda.
- Minutes from the July 8 Special Open Board Meeting.
- Minutes from the July 8 closed personnel session.
- Minutes from the July 20 Regular Board Meeting.
- Bills and claims.
- July financial reports.
- Donations and grants.
- Agreements and partnerships.
- Personnel.
- Fundraisers.
The personnel report lists proposed new employment, a volunteer coaching agreement, resignations, and changes in status. New-employment entries include annual salaries of $46,000, $73,000 with a $2,000 sign-on bonus payable over two years, and $75,000, along with several hourly positions at $15, $17, and $18 per hour.
The fundraiser materials include proposed activities for winter cheerleading, the high school music department, the middle school PTO, and high school volleyball. Estimated proceeds range from less than $500 to $1,000–$5,000, depending on the fundraiser.
The informational portion of the agenda also includes a Joyce Park Proposal, the IASB Delegate Assembly and Convention scheduled for November 18–19, 2026, a KHS Student Council representative update, board committee reports, a facilities update, an interim superintendent update, an update on the school board vacancy, and correspondence.
The superintendent update is described as an opportunity for Superintendent Dr. Kathy Dinger to provide information of interest to the board and school community. The packet also lists a School Advisory Committee segment before the board moves into its action items.
Public Participation
The agenda provides a Constituent Communications period for members of the public to address the board on matters of interest or concern. Speakers are asked to complete a Public Comment Card and are limited to five minutes.
The packet also notes that Iowa law prevents the board from discussing specific students, specific employees, or employee job performance during this portion of the meeting.
What to Watch at the Meeting
Several agenda items could lead to consequential board action, but the packet itself records no outcome. Key questions include whether the board chooses to purchase the proposed $5 million in additional liability coverage for $9,766.51, what the proposed suspension of Policy 701.05 financial targets would entail, which legislative priorities the board advances, and whether it schedules a public hearing connected with the proposed CHC Building sale.
The informational reports also give the board an early-school-year look at registration and enrollment while returning attention to literacy, building-level academic goals, facilities, and the current school board vacancy.
