School Board meets
Casey Forsmann was appointed to be the new Trustee for Zone #5 at the June meeting of the School Board Wednesday, June 12. Forsmann replaces Pat Alfrey, who resigned from the position she had held for 15 years. Tara Klapprich was voted in as the new Vice-Chairman of the board, a position that was previously held by Alfrey. The budget hearing was held for the 2024-25 budget. After the budget was reviewed by Clerk-Treasurer Denise Uhlenkott, the board voted to approve the budget. The Preschool agreement was approved for another year with Erin Shears. Three para-professional positions were approved for hire by the board. Madison Shears was moved from the high school to the elementary school to make up for Marlene Forsmann’s retirement. Nicole Rehder, Faith Bieler and Kendra Chandler were approved as the new high school para professionals. Superintendent Jon Rehder said they had very good applicants and it hurt to have to turn some of them down. They told those applicants they would keep them in mind if any positions open in the next year. In the reports, Matt Elven reported the spring band concert went well. The 6th graders toured the school and went through orientation with their 2024-25 class schedules. The awards assembly was held May 24. Graduation took place on May 31 with 22 graduates. He reported he went through the school building and manually shut down all the heating and cooling units for the summer. Fisher Systems came in June 4 and tested and reviewed the building fire alarms and reported none needed upgraded or replaced. Girls and boys basketball both have open gyms during the month of June and are in summer leagues at LCSC. Volleyball also has open gyms during June. Football had practices June 3-6 and then went to Montana Tech for a football camp June 7-9. Rehder reported the class lists for the 2024-25 school year are completed and students visited their new classrooms and teachers on May 30. The spring concert went very well with a lot of positive feedback on the improvement shown. Kindergarten graduation was held. The kindergartners each were able to walk down the aisle with one of the 2024 graduates. Field Day was held on May 30. Mrs. Harman organized it with games and volunteers but when she was unable to attend due to personal matters, Mrs. Rambo stepped in and helped. The last day of school featured a talent show and awards assembly. In his facitilies report, Rehder noted that Concept Construction has started on the breezeway enclosure project. They should be done by mid-July. Rick Forsmann, Dave Shears and Sydney Shears have been doing a lot of painting a the elementary school. Nita Lorentz would be coming in soon to start finishing and the beams, soffit and other tedious areas. Fisher Systems also checked the Elementary School fire alarms but didn’t have the same good news as the high school. 19 of 26 alarms failed. Rehder has a quote of $14, 368.86 to replace all 26. He also looked into tying the school systems in with the fire station. There would be a one-time charge of $1,326 per building and then $66 per building per month to set the system up. Rehder reported the floor polishers worked very well. They should be able to save a lot on wax. They plan to clean and polish all the classrooms this summer and strip and wax all the halls and cafeteria. They would flip-flop next year. In his superintendent report Rehder noted the lunch and breakfast prices will go up. Breakfast had been free but will now be $2 per day at each school. Lunch prices will go up 50 cents at each building. The ag position person he thought he had lined up decided against taking the position as they wanted to stay closer to their home in Washington. They have a few non-certified community members interested but that entails a lot of extra hoops to jump through. There were some possible leads from Montana State. He reported they need to look at the building valuations for insurance purposes. The valuations haven’t been updated since 2000. In talks with Don Solberg, buildings over $1,000,000 are covered by insurance. Buildings under that value are covered according to the value listed. Buildings valued under $1 million are the bus barn/maintenance shop, the Elementary School Maintenance/shop which is now the art room, the football field house and the high school bus barn. The bus barn/maintenance shop which was built in 2016. The 2016 value was $418,478. It was suggested to raise that to $900,000. The art room was valued at $44,625 in 2000. At $200 per sq. ft. it is estimated now at $216,000. The Field house was valued at $470,635 in 2000. At $300 per sq. ft. it would now be valued at $843,900. The high school bus barn was valued at $87,028 in 2000. Estimated value now is $150,000. Rick Forsmann found a good deal on a side-by-side. This will be a great asset as Forsmann can drive it all over the grounds to fix sprinklers and other issues without rutting up the ground. School bus 07-7, which no longer runs was sold for $750. It would have needed $3000-$5000 to fix it. The levy passed with a 72% approval rate. A retirement party was held at Keuterville Pub & Grub for Cheri Holthaus, Della Gehring, Gloria Funke, Marlene Forsmann, Allason Zenner and Pat Alfrey on May 30. They were each awarded a plaque recognizing their years of service. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, July 15 at 7 p.m. Casey Forsmann is sworn in as the new school board trustee for zone #5. He replaces Pat Alfrey who recently retired from the position. Also shown are school board trustees Keith Holcomb, Tara Klapprich and Gus Hoene. |
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