At their rescheduled Monday night meeting, the Southwest Open School board discussed their April focus, returning staff for the 2025-26 school year, hiring a new director and bids for campus projects.
This month’s board focus was the employee supervision/evaluation report and the proposed budget. April’s focus will be the facility annual report and the parent and community communication annual report.
Formal observations for teaching staff have been completed and staff final, year-end evaluations begin Thursday. All 19 full-time staff employed by SWOS have expressed their intent to return for the 2025-26 school year.
One full-time position and one part-time position will end because of grant funding. The school is also still seeking a new director after former director Casey Simpson vacated the position in December.
Former director of student services Joe Kelly has been filling in as interim director. After the meeting, Kelly told The Journal that he has decided not to pursue filling the director position, and will resume his role as the director of student services once another director has been hired.
The window for director applications will close Friday, April 4. Kelly said about four applications have been received, and interviews will be conducted once the application deadline has been met.
The board also highlighted Matt Robinson, whose chemistry class made hydrogen bombs in baby food jars as they study renewable energy.
The board moved to enrollment and attendance, noting that enrollment is currently at 108 students. The attendance rate is 75.4% and course completion rate 79.6%.
Toward the end of their meeting, the board went over bids received for various projects around the campus. One bid was from Rubio’s for the floor of SWOS’s Chaco building. The other bids are still being discussed, according to Kelly.
Current grants held by the school include a school professional health grant to support a school health professional position, school counselor corps grant, LOR grant for esports and biking clubs, a grant supporting community engagement, food grant and more.
The school was also awarded a reengagement grant for the next three years.
