The School Board approved for hire Daun (Hoene) Martinez and Lisa Labrum as paraprofessionals at the Jr./Sr. High School at their meeting Monday, Sept. 16.
They also approved adding Lisa Hasselstrom, the new high school office manager, as a signer on the Jr./Sr. High School account. She replaces Cheri Holthaus, who retired.
The student overnight out of state travel procedures were approved by the board. This establishes timelines and procedures to get such travel approved by the board.
The continuous improvement plan was approved by the board. This is something the state requires districts to do and addresses goals for improvement in students.
Policy updates were reviewed. New board member Casey Forsmann went through them and pointed out some inconsistencies to superintendent Jon Rehder. Updating some verbiage in one section was recommended. Rehder will address that and bring it back to the October meeting.
Board member Keith Holcomb apparently would like to join the Fire Department and they meet the same day and time as the school board. He asked if there was a possibility of changing the meeting date. There was some discussion about going to the second or third Wednesday. Holcomb also said the fire department may decide to change their meeting night. The matter was tabled at this time.
In the Jr./Sr. High report, Matt Elven spent some time talking about MAP Testing and how he believes it is very helpful in helping teachers know what they need to work on with students.
He also noted Ms. Flick has had 15 high school and 18 junior high students sign up for Future Farmers of America (FFA) with 10 applications submitted to form the officer team. She worked with Elven to identify 8 events the local chapter will look to compete in. Flick is the new ag teacher this year and is very gung ho about FFA. Their first events will be FFA Livestock Judging at the Lewis County Fair in Nezperce Sept. 26 and FFA Livestock Judging at Moscow on Nov. 5. The latter is a state qualifier.
He reported they had 68 students sign up for dual credit classes. The school offers 12 courses which can help students get a head start on college.
There are 205 students currently enrolled the high school, up 11 from last year at this time. The main difference is the incoming 7^th grade class of 37 compared to last year’s senior class of 21. There are 35 8^th graders, 30 freshmen, 32 sophomores, 35 juniors and 36 seniors this year.
Eric Coffelt will start offering the driving portion of driver’s education that students are taking via IDLA. There are 8 students currently enrolled, 6 that attend Prairie, with 10 on an IDLA wait list, 9 of those who attend Prairie.
The Vitalant blood drive date has been moved from Oct. 10 to Nov. 14.
Rehder reported the open house was well attended with 94% of students having at least one parent attending.
They had ASB elections the first week of school and those elected are picture on page 8.
They are using iStation testing monthly for K-3 students and MAP testing for grades 4-6.
The Breezeway enclosure is completely finished as of Monday.
Rehder is having Valuations Northwest come in and revalue the buildings for insurance purposes. For most of the buildings the last time this was done was in 2000.
Rehder reported the total school enrollment is now 423. There is another family moving to town in October that will add a couple mor students. This is down 14 students from last year as several families moved out of the district.
The board adjourned to an executive session at 8:40 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, October 21 at 7 p.m.