News : School board reviews storm damage; expels student for bomb threat

Winds destroyed the pavilion at the Outdoor Classroom at Tilford last Monday.

The missing 'V': The VSHS sign was among the casualties of last week's storm.

The Vinton-Shellsburg School District seems to be continuing a de facto tradition of welcoming new high school principals to town by experiencing historic weather events the same week the new guy arrives.

Three years ago, it was Kirk Johnson and the Flood of 2008. Last week, it was Matt Kingsbury and the Storm of 2011.

The house that Kingsbury and his family have rented in Vinton was damaged in the storm, but the new principal has been spending most of his time dealing with the damage to the high school and other V-S facilities.

Kingsbury attended his first school board meeting Monday evening, where the storm was the first topic of discussion. He came to Vinton from Columbus Junction, and has been in frequent contact with Johnson as he made the move to Vinton.

Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock estimated the total damage to district facilities (including buildings, athletic field fencing and the press box and lights at the football field) at around $100,000. She said the district's insurance policy will cover all but the $1,000 deductible. Also, if there is a national "Emergency" declaration for the county, the district could be eligible for reimbursement of 75 percent of its costs (including labor) of storm recovery.

Destroyed facilities include the storage building used for track and field equipment and the pavilion at the outdoor classroom on the Tilford Elementary campus. Some bleachers were also damaged, and some buildings sustained damage to the roof or air conditioning units.

The storm also destroyed the walnut trees in front of the middle school. The students there had spent the last year debating whether or not to cut down or save the trees as they dealt with the safety issue posed by the walnuts that fell from the trees each year. (Principal Shelly Petersen twisted her ankle on one of the walnuts, and others have reported similar problems.)

A slide show showing damage to district facilities played during the meeting; Hainstock said maintenance director Les Bearbower brought his four-wheeler to town because of blocked roads, and gave her a tour of district property on that vehicle the morning of the storm. She praised Bearbower and the custodial staff, as well as teachers and students, for their efforts to clean school properties.

Bomb threat leads to expulsion

One of the other issues Kingsbury had to deal with first was helping the administration determine the disciplinary action for the student responsible for the bomb threat in May. The board met in closed session (as required by law) to discuss the issue, and voted to expel that student, identified in May only as a 15-year-old male, for one year. Expulsion for bomb threats or bringing weapons to school is a standard in Iowa and other states under the national "zero tolerance" policy designed to make schools more safe, although school boards are given the final say in specific disciplinary hearings.