By Quinn O’Hara

On the night of Monday, November 13th, the USD 379 School Board of Education hosted their regular meeting. Topics included open enrollment, updates to the school district’s cyber security, statistics for USD 379 graduate’s post-secondary careers, to name a few. The main topic of concern was the childcare shortage in Clay County, and how the community could work together to solve it within the parameters of a proposed grant. Natalie Murato of Grow Clay County is the main author of the grant application, and is working with many stakeholders to create a plan to build a multigenerational community center for Clay County.

 The center would provide childcare services, provide stable broad-band connections, serve as a meeting place for the Clay Center seniors, provide health monitoring services, and more.

Murato came before the board to ask for a letter of intent to show the dedication of USD 379 to the project. Vice President of the board Jeffery Cannizzo noted that the grant does not have services listed outside of Clay Center. Board Member Deborah Brown of Wakefield agreed, and responded that she would like to add more services to the Wakefield area in particular. 

After several minutes of discussion, the board voted in favor of signing a letter of intent, with Jason Bergsten being the only dissenting vote.

The next step in the process is to work on a conceptual design.