Monday, September 29, 2014

Dr. Roy Moss Named Superintendent of the Year

Dr. Roy Moss, Superintendent of Grain Valley R-V School District, has been named the Missouri Superintendent of the Year by the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA).  The announcement of the award was made on September 27 during the Missouri School Boards’ Association and MASA joint fall conference held at Tan-Tar-A Resort.

As the winner of this award, Moss received an award acknowledging his selection, a $500 scholarship for a student in the Grain Valley R-V School District and a commemorative ring.  The award is sponsored by PFM Asset Management, LLC, which is the program administrator for the Missouri Securities Investment Program.  As the recipient of the award, Moss will represent Missouri in the National Superintendent of the Year program conducted by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA).

Dr. Moss has been employed by the Grain Valley R-V School District as Superintendent of Schools since July 2009.  He previously served as Superintendent of the North Callaway R-II School District from 2004-2009 and as a high school principal at South Callaway School District from 1994-2004.

Under Moss’ leadership, the Grain Valley School District has opened a designated facility for early childhood special education, which has brought a greater emphasis on closing the achievement gap in preschool-aged children with learning delays.  The facility has become a point of pride for the families of preschool-aged children in the community who have special needs.

The district has developed a funding strategy to fund the construction and makeover of the existing high school through the passage of annual bond issues and without increasing taxes.  The plan will span more than ten years.  To date, two phases of classrooms have been added to the high school.  In addition to the classrooms, the sports stadium has been renovated, and construction will soon begin on a new transportation center. 

During Moss’ first year at Grain Valley, the district established the Grain Valley Education Foundation.  Each year, the foundation provides scholarships to graduating seniors.  In addition, classroom grants are awarded to teachers twice each year.  The foundation has grown its overall fund balance from $0 to $222,426.03 in its first five years.

Dr. Moss has served as President of the Cooperating School Districts of Greater Kansas City; President of the Northeast School Administrators District; President of the Missouri River Valley Conference and on the Board of Directors of the Missouri Securities Investment Program.  He serves on the Grain Valley Economic Development Board, the Grain Valley Assistance Council and the Grain Valley Tax Increment Financing Commission.  He is a Deacon, member and Financial Trustee of the First Baptist Church in Blue Springs, Mo.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Construction to Begin on New Transportation Facility

School Board members, architects, engineers, contractors,
and district personnel break ground at the site of the district's
new transportation facility set to open the summer of 2015. 
School bus drivers and their families joined planners and school district leaders for a ground-breaking ceremony Wednesday on the site where construction on the district's new transportation center is set to begin in a few days.  The $3.8 million project will be completed next summer. The centerpiece of the project is a 10,627 square foot building to house transportation department offices, a meeting room for bus drivers, and work bays for four buses.  A secured parking lot will hold 56 buses.

The facility is being constructed on the north end of a 17-acre property located on the northeast corner of Eagles Parkway and Sni-A-Bar Boulevard, three-quarters of a mile west of Grain Valley High School.  Buses will enter and exit the facility from Sni-A-Bar Boulevard.  The south half of the property, along Eagles Parkway, will remain undeveloped at this time.

Street view of the new transportation center, looking north.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Roy Moss states the importance of a new transportation facility, “We need a modern transportation facility to secure and maintain our growing fleet of buses.” Dr. Moss adds, “Our long-range plan calls for ongoing additions and renovation to the high school to grow its capacity to approximately 1500 students.  Moving the buses to a different location allows the expansion of the high school to continue.”  The district's school buses have been housed behind the high school since 1997, when the district had just 20 buses.  

The second phase of a multiple-year expansion and renovation of the high school was completed in time for the start of the current school year.  There are 1100 students in the high school this year.  The capacity of the high school building was 850 students just three years ago.

Dr. Moss states that the School Board has set aside funds over the past few years specifically for this type of project.  "We recognized several years ago that there would be a time when our bonding capacity would be stretched to keep up with demand for new classroom and student activity space.”

According to Dr. Moss, 4060 students attend Grain Valley Schools in grades Kindergarten through twelfth grade this year, up from 2160 students just ten years ago, “This is the next step on an on-going journey of growth as a school district.  We will continue to plan and prepare.”  Site planning for the facility also leaves room for future additions to the facility to potentially accommodate twice as many buses and twice as many work bays.