News : School board tours Shellsburg, acts on bond refinancing

The school board met in regular session at Shellsburg on Monday, October 15. They started with a tour of the facilities including the outdoor preschool area and the classroom that was remodeled last summer. Then they conducted a work session and reviewed some of the work the district’s Design Team has been doing.

The regular meeting was called to order at 7:00 by President Gates. All board members were present with the exception of Angela Hazen. All administrators were present.

Highlights from the meeting include:

· Six students from our Project Lead the Way classes presented about their experiences in Principles of Engineering, I Engineering Design and Civil Engineering.

· Administrators reported on the professional development work done the last few days, parent-teacher conferences, and instructional work in the buildings. Congratulations to John Frazier for being named Wamac Cross-Country Coach of the Year!

· The Superintendent thanked everyone for assisting with the certified enrollment and especially Matt Kingsbury for his work. It looks as though the district will be down about 40 students although it is hard to know the exact numbers until all districts have finalized their submissions to the state.

· Under General Business of the Board, the board approved the following consent agenda items:

o Minutes from previous meetings, bills and financials

o Contracts with Voc-Rehab to be a training site, HCAP to offer the Backpack Program to start a program sending home food to needy students on weekends, and Kirkwood for seven teachers to teach courses

o Disposal of textbooks and old basketball hoops

o Resignation from Kim Davis as 4th grade teacher

o Marilyn Condry, Brian Murphy and Sarah Sterner as substitute teachers

o Hiring an additional boys’ basketball coach in anticipation of more participants and more games

o Early graduation request from Melissa Young

o And agreements with other school districts to cross their boundaries.

· The board approved the preliminary list for uses of how the administrators will allocate the PPEL/1-cent money including dollars for roof repair and replacement, a new bus, additional technology, flooring, furniture, and some funds that can be used as things come up.

· The board approved holding a special election for reaffirming our revenue purpose statement for February 5, 2013. The district needs to have the vote to continue using the 1-cent funds as the voters originally intended. The vote needs to happen so the district can decide locally how to spend the money (instead of having the legislature dictate) and it is not a new tax (everyone already is paying the 1-cent and will continue to pay it regardless of the vote).

· The board approved moving forward to refinance the bonds that were issued in 2004 and 2005. The board plans to complete the process in February of 2013.

· The board approved a lease agreement with Act I of Benton County for our alternative HS students.

· The board approved sending a letter of support to maintain the Braille services in Vinton to the Board of Regents and others.