The school board approved hiring of a new ag teacher at their July meeting Monday, July 15.
Superintendent Jon Rehder said Madison Flick, a recent graduate of Montana State who is certified as an ag instructor is the new hire. Rehder said she is originally from California but most of her family now lives in Hayden, ID. He said she is very gung ho for FFA and would look to resurrect that program at Prairie.
Linda Kaschmitter was approved for hire as a cook at the Elementary School. She replaces Debbie Schmidt who moved to a paraprofessional position when Megan Rambo resigned.
Bus rental rates were kept the same at $3.50 per mile.
Per diem rates for staff attending training or meetings out of town also remain the same at up to $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch and $20 for dinner with a total per day not to exceed $45.
School lunch rates were raised 50 cents for students. Elementary students went from $2.50 to $3. Jr./Sr. High students went from $3 to $3.50. The free breakfast program at the Elementary is not funded anymore so both Elementary and Jr./Sr. high breakfasts are $2.00. Adult price remains the same at $5.50.
The facility use rates remained the same as last year.  Rehder said he is also going to ask that a poster sized sign of the rules of use for facilities be printed up for each building.
Lisa Hasselstrom, the new office manager at the jr./sr. high, was approved as an assistant treasurer as she’ll be handling the high school accounts.
Extra-curricular assignments were approved with a couple of new hires. Neil Bruegeman was approved as junior high boys basketball coach replacing Ryan Hasselstrom who resigned due to taking the head football position. TT Cain was approved as the junior high football head coach. He replaces Matt Elven who has moved to a high school assistant coaching position. Cain apparently resigned from the high school head coaching position due to new obligations he has in August and November. Those won’t conflict with the junior high season.
Rehder reported he is working on the student overnight and out of state travel issues. He said rather than put them into a policy he would rather put them into protocols/procedures.
Policy updates were reviewed. This is the first reading. The board members can look through them and bring any questions to the August meeting.
In the administrative reports Elven reported that Laurie Lorentz, Rick Forsmann and Sydney Shears are doing a great job of getting the school ready for the new school year.
He reported he attended the Idaho Principals Network in Boise June 20-21.
Sports physicals are July 23 at St. Mary’s Clinic for all 7^th, 9^th and 11^th grade athletes.
The fall sports meeting will be August 6 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for all junior and senior high athletes.
Registration will be August 13.
In his elementary principals report, Rehder shared the information that Prairie Elementary wound up as the 8^th ranked small, rural school in the Idaho Reading Indicator results.
He reported that summer school went very well. There were 9 total days and 27 hours of instruction.
Back to school night will be Wednesday, August 28 from 4:30 to 6:30.
In his facilities report Rehder shared some photos of the work on the breezeway enclosure project.
Rick Forsmann and Sydney Shears painted the majority of the Elementary building in early June. Jerry Richardson, Nita Lorentz and a few of Nita’s helpers came in for the finish work on beams, doors, etc. Rehder said it makes it look like a new building.
Also the 3 gym floors were all refinished June 30-July2. There was some hazing that happened with the second coat but the company said they will make it right by possibly giving a deal on floor product next year. The high school gym floor is off limits until the first day of volleyball practice on August 12. The Elementary gym will be shut down until junior high volleyball starts. The Auxiliary gym opened for use this past Monday.
In his superintendent report Rehder noted that Rick Forsmann found a 2022 Kubota tractor from a local patron who is selling their land as well as some personal property. It has just 91 hours on it and is like new. It has a much larger bucket than their current tractor and comes with a snow plow with hydraulic blade adjustments, a brush hog mower and a box blade with ripping capabilities. Forsmann will clean up the 2013 Kubota that has 1400 hours on it and they will look to sell it.
He also reported the paraprofessional they hired in May at the high school decided to back out and stay where they were. They are reposting this position.
He and Elven will be attending the Idaho Association of School Administrators conference in Boise on July 31-August 1.
The Idaho School Board Association meeting is Nov. 6-8. Rehder asked board members to start thinking on whether they will be going.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, August 19 at 7 p.m.