| School
District finds good water
School superintendent Stan Kress reported at the school board meeting Wednesday, Jan. 21, that they hit good water when drilling their well near the Middle School. He said they went down 500 feet and were getting 25 gallons per minute (gpm) and when he asked about going another 50-100 feet the drillers wouldn’t guarantee anything. Kress played a hunch and at 585 feet they are getting 100 gpm. Water from this well will be used to water the athletic fields as well as the playgrounds at the middle school. Kress feels what they’ll save in paying the city for water will pay for the cost of the well within a couple of years. Kress also said that was enough water that they shouldn’t have to build as big a pressure or storage system as they would with lower flows. Other good news was that the forest fund money was higher than last year by about $10,000 at $269,740. With their loan repayment at about $215,000 that leaves over $50,000 to work with on other building projects. In Rene’ Forsmann’s report she reported that they received a $15,000 grant from the Nez Perce Tribe with the bilk of the money to be used to purchase equipment to upgrade the wireless local area network. In addition the elementary school received 5 digital cameras, one for each grade. $6,000 had been received with the remainder due in 90 days. The money was part of the tribe’s agreement to help fund education programs with some of their casino profits. Idaho Reading Indicator testing is taking place this week, Jan. 27-28 for grades K-3. Idaho Scholastic Achievement Testing (ISAT) will be the first 2 weeks of February for grades 2-8. It’s required in the fall and spring but PES and PMS have chosen to take the winter test to help them prepare for the spring test, the one that counts according to the state. Kress reported that a settlement has been offered in the ISEEO lawsuit but he doesn’t expect the state legislature to accept it. He said he wants to make sure the judges know who the stumbling block is on this. He also reported that Judge John Bradbury’s recent decision about the law allowing the legislature to sue school districts to fix their unsafe buildings, makes that law null and void in this judicial district. PeeWee basketball started Jan. 24 with a clinic with another this coming Saturday, Jan. 31 with games through most of February. 32 students are signed up and volunteer coaches are needed. Call Danette Coleman at 962-2355 if you’d like to help coach. Roger Holthaus appeared to make the board aware of gym scheduling problems. He coaches the 6th grade boys and Hallissey girls and has the Elementary gym scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. in the evenings and last week a Summit Academy game ran well into his gym time. He said that Sarah Sonnen has also had some conflicts with Summit coming in early to get ready for a game and disrupting her dance team practices. Board members commented that Prairie students should come first and Steve Frei said he feels they’ve gone out of their way more than enough with Summit without seeing anything in return. A consensus of the board was that if there were further conflicts, Summit could lose gym privileges. Kress said he would discuss the matter with Summit principal Annette Wemhoff. In other business Kress reported the Red Cross has finally got back to the district with paperwork about use of school facilities in emergency situations. They asked for use of the Elementary and Middle School gyms as possible treatment centers. They first made contact about a year ago. Two coaches were recommended for hire at the Middle School. With 33 students turned out for volleyball, they are recommending Marlene Forsmann for assistant coach to help head coach Kelsey Edwards handle that many players. There are also 12 boys out for wrestling and Justin Nuxoll was recommended for hire as junior high wrestling coach. Both hires were approved by the board. Section VII of the policy manual was approved with the revisions recommended at the last meeting. In his principal report Dave Snodgrass that the school spelling bee would be held Friday, Jan. 23. Also junior high volleyball tournaments were set for Saturday with 7th grade at the high school and 8th at the middle school. The school had a ski day at Cottonwood Butte Tuesday, Jan. 20 and Snodgrass said there was very good snow up there and the students all enjoyed it. Mike Bundy reported they have obtained a sander. Roy Schumacher helped them find one at Grangeville for about $300. It was small than what they needed, but just right for the school. It will be used to sand the drive up to the high school parking lots since the highway districts aren’t able to do so any more. The high school was to have a ski day Monday, Jan. 26. Bundy also reported that a scheduling meeting was set for Jan. 28 at Lewiston. He and athletic director Travis Mader would attend to work on the volleyball, football and basketball schedules for next season in the 1-A White Pine League. There was a possibility of 2 divisions for volleyball and basketball with home and home against your own division and just 1 league game each year against teams from the other division. Prairie, Culdesac, Highland, Nezperce and Timberline would likely be the South Division with Genesee, Lapwai, Kendrick, Troy and Deary in the North Division. Kamiah and C.V. have also petitioned to join the 1-A league but have so far been denied by the IHSAA. Bundy said that on Feb. 10 most of the juniors will go to LCSC for a college day to preview the programs they offer. Kress reported that the health insurance buydown program discussed at the last meeting, is now in effect. Clerk/Treasurer Denise Uhlenkott has set up a separate account for this so that they’ll readily be able to see the kind of savings this program makes. The next meeting of the board is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 18 at the Middle School Library. There will be a social hour starting at 6:30 with the meeting set for 7:30 p.m. |
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