Dr. Julie Trepa, Superintendent, Boone Community School District, July 14, 2026

Today, taking time to visit with Dr. Julie Trapp of Boone School Superintendent, good to have you back. Yeah, good to be back. And had the board their first meeting of the new fiscal year. That's true. It was. Not really. Well, it is the new school year, I guess. It's the 26-27 school year in school terms, yes. And we're ready to go. We will be. Well, you've got, you've filled out some of your staff positions. Absolutely. Super excited about that. Going, all right. Well, it was. And yeah, you know, and you had staff that were taking positions elsewhere. So. Yeah. Good. Yeah. We're in good shape. Yeah. That's what I was going to ask. How are we looking? We're in great shape. Our teaching staff were doing quite well. Did you have good retention? Yeah. We had several retirements, but outside of that, yeah, I would say, very similar to, you know, years past if you take our retirees out of that, but we had a number of retirees that this year that we didn't have previously. Yes, folks. I do know. Yeah, we did eliminate the orchestra and stuff, but still we did have staff members that have adjusted and. Absolutely. You did that shifting. We've got amazing staff. You've been doing that for a number of years. Yeah. We have amazing staff. And they rally when we need to rally and have solution focused attitudes. And so that's what we're headed to is continuing to provide as many opportunities to our students as we possibly can. So keep working at it. Yeah. I do. And again, we did have a number of different things that came up for the board last night. Probably I'm going to go right to the end of the meeting because that was. Well, sure. To me was interesting. Okay. And that was part of the working with the Iowa School Board's Association and leadership. And part of what we do with the board and I mean, the board has done this on their own for some time, but it makes them, I mean, they meet a lot of standards for growth. Individual growth is board members. Folks, you don't get big bucks working on the school. No, they get any money. They spend a lot. They spend time on it. Again, this last night, the topics that were covered were, I thought were pretty interesting. Yeah. That was just chapter one, Jim. It was great. And we have a whole bunch of others coming up. Yeah. But this is something that they, they do, they kind of study for, and then they talk, take time during the meeting time. That got us a little longer, but that was okay. But it's about board learning and that's the one, that's the time that they're together. And so really taking advantage of the opportunity to learn together, IISB put out a book. On student achievement and the board's role in that and how we can continue to capitalize on their leadership. So really that's what all those conversations are going to be about. Are the board's role in the work that we do in the school system. And so chapter one was all about high expectations and, you know, a no excuses attitude. And so that's really what they discussed and what they were hoping to accomplish this year. And I think some of the things like I picked up in the discussion, first of all, they, they have, it's a, well, they can, how people view your school is the easy way. The perception. And what do they, what do they say? Well, it's always, they have this vision or this, this is what it's like. And a lot of the board in their discussions said, that's not necessarily true. There's a lot of like misinformation. Absolutely. So just trying to make sure that perception reflects reality. But again, for the board to set those expectations and communicate that not only to our staff, but to our community and for us to work together as a team to accomplish those goals. So I think one of the things that came up the rigor of what's absolutely they wanted people to understand. No, it's not. You just don't cruise through there is, there is, it's, it's rigorous curriculum. You need to have a rigorous curriculum. If you're going to prepare students for post-secondary world, whether they go straight into the workforce or they go to college or they go into the military, it doesn't really matter. They need to have a rigorous curriculum. That's part of resilience, which is our portrait of a graduate, the critical thinking and problem solving. I mean, our portrait of a graduate is very much alive and well in our district. And that is deeply connected to our achievement. They talked about, well, staff, staff, recognizing the quality staff that you've got and how they adapt. I really appreciated Nancy sharing that people don't realize what our teachers do and how much is put on their plates and how they navigate that. And they do so with, you know, poise and grace and, and again, very growth minds, having a growth mindset. So I think just recognizing all the really great things that they do, um, on and off the clock, right? That was brought up last night with Alicia Anderson serving as an interpreter. So, uh, and she has done that on numerous occasions. And I think sometimes we can take that for granted and we really need to lift that up and celebrate it because, um, we've been blessed with a strong staff. And I heard last night that our board just really wants to make sure that they hear that that, you know, our staff hears that from our board and that our community hears that that we're, we're blessed with a strong staff. And I think one of the other parts was, uh, as far as, uh, for staff, make sure they have opportunities to continue to improve. Absolutely. Cause it's all about continuous improvement. You're never done trying to get better. And so, um, that's part of the board's role. How do we provide those opportunities for professional growth and providing the resources for the rigorous curriculum? That's really the, the role that the board plays in ensuring that our, that our staff have what's necessary to help them achieve. It was pretty interesting. It was. It's good. They had a good discussion amongst themselves to, uh, well, let's, one of the things that came up in the beginning, uh, Cindy gave a presentation about your special ed delivery having a special education background. It is important and, um, folks, uh, there is a surprising, hey, you can now get audited. Yeah. It's, uh, that's something that the federal, uh, I think federal part is the federal government really told Iowa that they needed to do some things. And now Iowa is doing a lot more in depth review on the financial side of things. And so over the course of the next five years, all the schools will undergo the review. And again, we are not concerned about the review from our compliance standard. Um, what I shared before is just the, the tight turnarounds that are, have been expected when, um, staffing is so short for all of us in public education. It is very difficult. Yes. Yes. Uh, but, uh, the delivery plan and everything else kind of reviewed, uh, again, really kind of streamline that presentation for the board. So, but, um, they, there are some things that, uh, she, again, this is something that Cindy just kind of has been, uh, putting together. And, uh, again, it seemed very smooth. I think this was the first years in the new service delivery plan. We had piloted it to try and ensure that it would be a smooth transition. I think her presentation just solidified that. I think it's also a good reminder that we do follow federal guidelines when it comes to any student who has, um, an IEP, which is an individualized educational plan. Um, because I don't know that everyone realizes that we are bound to the federal laws that, that come to that. It was also an opportunity to celebrate our special Olympics that, um, our students were able to participate in. We did the Bunch of this year. Now. Yes. So we had three students do that this past year and be quite successful. And we did try to share those celebrations out on social media as well. So, um, that also was the first year for us officially, um, participated in our staff transition that we had through that. We did continue on with those. We were able to continue on and build upon, um, yeah, what Pam's dangling had already started. So Cindy's done a phenomenal job in that role and we will continue to work in a plan and, and adapt it as necessary. So and, uh, I know that one of the things they, and the board, they do like it when, uh, all the IEPs are, when we're successful with our all students and that was the big thing. Right. And have them be successful without that. Um, that's always the goal when you enter into special education. So, um, she did speak to some of that as well. And that's, that's something we always celebrate. Well, we've got that. That's all set for the next year. Let's talk about eighth grade. No, well, it's activities and athletics handbook got approved and there are some updates in there and there's a couple of things that, okay, eighth grade participation. That's a requirement that districts make it available. The question is how, how you make it available and what's your structure for doing that. And basically the athletics handbook covers that board policy says, yes, we make eighth grade. Correct. Make it available. But, uh, they put together a pretty good working document. It looks like. Yeah. Pretty distinct process. If that's something that head coach determines there is an eighth grader that can compete at the varsity level, then they would share that, um, with our activities director, um, Tim Pazzetti. And after that conversation, if it's deemed something that, um, both individuals feel that student would be successful at the varsity level, then they would contact parents and have a meeting and talk about all the pros and cons, um, when you participate in varsity athletics as an eighth grader. So, um, there is a process in the handbook now and we, I think the question starts with it starts with the coach, right? Absolutely starts with the coach. And I think it's just important to realize that this will be, um, a pretty rare event that we would have an eighth grader participating in varsity level, um, athletics. One thing that like for the guidelines that you can't bounce back and forth between this is varsity and that's where you're at. Right. And, uh, eighth graders won't be playing, uh, in ninth grade or JV either. So yeah, I, that's just something that I think the athletic department did a nice job of thinking through and we talked last night about starting small when something new like this happens. There are 22 other states that have this in place. And so really kind of looking at those examples and taking the advice from the girls union and the association, I think, uh, we've got a good plan to start. And then like any other plan, it's alive and well and it can adjust as, as we adjust to this new landscape. I know, uh, John Johnson did the presentation and he goes, the one thing he pointed out to the board, this is what we're starting with. Yes. Can it be adjusted? Yeah. We'll do that next year. Yep. So it won't be in the middle of the year. This is it. We're doing this will be for this year. Correct. I think, uh, the, the, some of the big, the board always said right away you go, oh, football and yeah, well, there's so many other sports that they could participate in and you might see an exceptional golfer or somebody, uh, a runner cross country or even distance in track. So those are not out of the realm of happening, but they would have to continue to run it. I mean, there are a lot of components to making that decision, right? So you know, the safety of the students is always going to come first and foremost. And so certain sports lend themselves more readily to that adjustment from eighth grade to varsity than other sports and that's just a reality. So we'll, uh, see what, again, I know that they, he's been in conversation with conference and we've talked to other, other activities directors around the state. So again, a number of them are kind of going in this direction. This is how we'll incorporate it. And again, a lot of it will depend on the size of your district too. It absolutely will depend on the size of the district for sure. We'll, uh, just watch what happens. Yeah. It's at least now we've got the guidelines for the structure. Yes. Yes. Uh, one of the other parts of this was some attendance, just kind of clarifying what is, you want to mean class, you know, students, student athletes need to be there. Yep. And if you're going to practice indoor play, you need to be in school. I think the big key to that is we said student athletes, right? Students first always. And so the adjustment that we're making is that instead of the requirement of half a day of being present in school to participate in practice or, or, uh, games, it needs to be a full day. Now, does that mean that there aren't exceptions to that that would be worthy of still being able to participate? Absolutely. It's the same policy with regard to that. It's just switching from half a day to a full day. So be there all day. Yep. Anyway, now it's documented. Absolutely. No more sleeping in because we feel like it. There's, well, there might be one or two that, but, uh, again, there are those guidelines that are, or certain things that are available, which did bring up the one thing. And I was thinking while you were talking about this, how did our attendance go last year? I know that because that was one of those challenges working very, very diligently to try and improve attendance and it has continued to prove to be challenging. It's just hard to do. We really need to have students in school because they can't learn if they aren't in school. So, um, that takes a partnership with all of our parents and our students. So we just continue to work on different strategies to help make that happen. You're not the only district I'm guessing that's struggling with it, but it's one of those because yeah, that was part of a new state law a year ago, a couple of years ago, a couple of years ago now. And still working on it. Still working on it. Well, good luck. Good luck with that. Yeah. You did talk about changing some of the school fees and fines. There are certain things the district can charge. Some things went down in price and some things are increasing. So yeah, the, the fines for damaged, you know, parts or parts that break on any of the devices has gone down. So we only charge what it costs us. So those fees are a reduction and then, um, raising the fees for textbook and, um, softwares that's textbooks from 65 to 80. So not, not an overly, overly large increase. No, we just tried, like I said, we went to the next lowest, um, charge that is happening in our area. We see what other districts have to do. So, uh, that part there. The other part of that is free and reduced. When you're signing up your student for school, uh, there's the application form for free and reduced meals. Yes. You've always said, sign up, sign up for free and reduced meals. The other piece to that though, if you want your fees to be free or reduced, you need to sign the waiver because we aren't able to just take the free and reduced lunch application apply it. So there's two parts and we highly encourage people to apply for that, um, help and assistance that can benefit in numerous ways. If you have a student that's going to go into driver's ed, sure that would also be helpful to you. If, if you qualify, then those fees can be free or reduced. So I, I just highly encourage our families to apply for that assistance. A lot of them just look at it and go, Oh, I don't need that. No, do it. Do it. Yeah. You may, it may be a benefit. Absolutely. We made a little adjustment in our, uh, meal prices. We did for price for breakfast. Well, it was partly a go back and take a look at what, what, what the new numbers are basically. Yeah. Um, again, there's a slight reduction at the, uh, for the breakfast. Yeah. We had, um, increased some of our meal prices and, uh, Sarah in reflecting back upon that conversation said, you know, I think we should, we look at the breakfast prices. So, um, instead of raising it to 370, it's 325 that more closely matches the actual cost of the meals. So, um, that was the recommendation last night. Yeah. One of the other things that came out of the legislature this year was the, uh, uh, screen time. Yes. And, uh, so I'm guessing at the elementary level, everybody's been already taking a look at it. Absolutely. Most superintendents said, I get a chance to visit with an occasion and going, yeah, we're like, uh, and again, they, uh, but the question was just what all is included in that is just, they can only have this much time, how much of it, I mean, there's, there's variables. There are several things that, um, the law discusses with the screen time. Um, and we're encouraged because we don't think it's going to be a huge adjustment for us, um, because we already don't spend a large percentage of screen time, um, at our elementary level. So, uh, we have had those conversations. We have some professional development for our staff, uh, this fall when they return. And we have a little bit more clarity on, on what counts towards that 60 minutes of screen time. I would say the one thing that I'm really proud of that we're doing that's not in the law is that in addition to, um, the screen time, we're also ensuring that the, the items on the devices are only approved on our approved list, K 12. So even six through 12, so the students are going to be disappointed that they can't access some of the games and things that they want to, but they are intended to be learning devices. Um, there will be no way to have anything other than that. And really we're looking forward, um, we anticipate some different screen times at the secondary level in the coming years. And so, uh, the research is pretty clear that that should be very, very limited. And I would encourage parents to read, read about that letter, that research and, uh, take that to heart because there's a, there's a lot of research that, that supports limiting that at different age levels. And part of it, again, teachers use it as part of the networking, uh, when you're networking groups and things like that, that's not really included in it. That, I mean, that's an edgy, the educational. So when the teachers are teaching, say, um, something with math and they're using their smart board, that's not included as part of screen time because just like a white board or, or even a chalkboard for that matter wouldn't be something that would be considered screen time. So they do have definitions of that, that digital learning, um, for us. And so that'll become clear. And I think our staff will be able to share with parents what that means as well. If there are questions. All right. We're all getting ready for the beginning of the new year. We are. You're, you, so you've got a lot of staff, uh, there and again, August is, well, not far away. It's right around the corner. I know. It is right around the corner. We have this going on. One of the things you did talk about last night is, uh, because you kind of scheduled board meetings out, uh, starting in September, basically it was always kind of the organizational time and that. But, uh, now we're, uh, you were looking at, uh, it's always kind of traditionally been we've had our meeting early and then we'll have a work session later in the month. But, uh, for some of those, you can get them a little closer, maybe you limit it to one meeting. We really tried to put some of the work sessions attached to the, um, evenings when our board already has a regularly scheduled board meeting. Um, there are plenty of times when they have added meetings that aren't scheduled that for a variety of reasons that come up. So really wanted to try and limit, as you mentioned, they, it's not a paid position. So really trying to honor the time that they do dedicate to us. Um, that was one of the, uh, focuses and then also, um, came up with three dates for a work session on facilities, long, uh, range facility planning that, um, after we had accomplished, um, the last portion of the previous long range plan of having ledges built, then since then that's been a long process of determining a long range plan. And so our committee has kind of reached the point where they need to share what their thoughts are and the board needs to make some decisions on what that long range plan looks like for the next 10 years for us. Where we're going direction to go, how do we finance it? And all of those, those are things that, yeah, the finance part will come after, but yes. So, yeah, but I mean, it's, these are things you, you have to, and all, it was pretty amazing cause like, I think all three, uh, that I covered, Madden and, uh, Ogden and Boone, you were all going through this cause you'd all kind of hit the end of the same time and we, all of a sudden, no, let's take a look at what's, uh, what else is coming up and we know, uh, Ogden's moving ahead with theirs quickly and, absolutely. And, uh, they'll have a public hearing later this month for their school work. But he came over and looked at ledges. He liked that. Yes, yes, they did. They did come to look at ledges and it's been nice because we've had several districts actually come look at ledges and, and glean some ideas. And there are some buildings in the area that, that look very similar. So not a surprise. It's, it's a compliment. Yes. Julie Trappa, our guest at our program today, Dr. Julie Trappa Boone school superintendent. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me.