Streamlined Policies Management Helps Impact Student Achievement

Developing Highly Effective Leaders and Lifelong Learners

Modeling Leadership and Transparency

Established in 1914, the Grandview C-4 School District is the largest employer in the city. There are approximately 4,000 students across their eight schools ranging from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Grandview is located just south of Kansas City, Missouri along the I-49 corridor.

Grandview boasts the home of former U.S. President Harry S. Truman who lived in the area for nearly 14 years. The farmhouse President Truman lived in still stands and is maintained by the National Parks Service. The city of Grandview spans roughly 15 square miles and has a population estimated at 32,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Grandview C-4 School District’s vision reads, “Grandview C-4 develops highly-effective leaders and lifelong learners by fostering and sustaining positive relationships through a culture of acceptance and respect, providing rigorous academic experiences and technology-rich opportunities to meet the challenges of society, today and in the future.

The school district has brought its vision to life in many respects, specifically within the technology realm. Using Simbi, Grandview has found innovative ways to operate more efficiently and effectively, while modeling leadership and transparency through technology to its students and community.

Streamlining Governance and Accountability

The Grandview Board of Education uses the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) Policy Services to keep up to date on policy changes brought about by legislative action, agency regulations and educational trends. Grandview’s process for review of MSBA policy recommendations included a core group of five people for initial vetting, an email seeking input from specific departments, and the Board Secretary’s electronic folders for record keeping. This process was very time consuming, and no efficient paper trail or easily accessible historical record existed.

Impacting District and Student Performance with Simbli

The Grandview Board of Education came to know Simbli through the Missouri School Boards’ Association where Kathy Meyers, board secretary, attended a conference presentation about Simbli. While Grandview already conducted paperless board meetings, they saw advantages to using a web-based solution. Additionally, the board recognized an opportunity to better manage their strategic planning and evaluations using Simbli.

Grandview is now able to access Simbli’s Core Four board management tools in a single place online. The Core Four board management modules include Meetings, Policies, Plans and Evaluations. Grandview has used the interconnectivity of the modules to enhance their effectiveness as a school district and impact student achievement.

Streamlined Processes Keep Everyone Aligned

After becoming familiar with Simbli, Meyers envisioned a way to replace their cumbersome policy review process by using Simbli’s Meetings software to organize, track history and record feedback on recommended policy changes. MSBA’s online policy service maintains all of the local board policies in addition to recommended policy updates based on legislative activity from MSBA policy service. Grandview has used this service to its full extent.

With Simbli, Meyers created a meeting template with supporting documents, summaries and comments. She enables applicable staff to review, comment and make edits to draft policies online with ease and simple accessibility.

All of Grandview’s board meetings are now managed with Simbli. Additionally, Grandview is using Simbli’s Planning software to manage its Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP), and the Evaluation software to align all of their work to the Superintendent Evaluation Instrument. The ability to tie meeting items, plans, policies and evaluations together ensures that the organization has a purpose and direction for student achievement.

“Our policy review process is organized, everything is in one place, it is historical and archived, and the information does not get lost in never-ending chains of emails,” said Meyers. “And now the Board has access to all their governing documents in one easily accessible location.’

Meyers was hired as the Board of Education Secretary in 2011. She holds a unique perspective, in that she was on the board of education in Grandview from 1996-2009. She has held the positions of treasurer, vice president and even president during her tenure on the board. A fun fact is that she works in the same room where she went to sixth grade.