| Hill
appointed to school board
Bill Hill was appointed to the school board Monday at the May meeting of the board to fill John Nida’s position until the election next year. Previously board members had brainstormed possible nominees and a person had also expressed interest in the position. Gus Hoene took those names around to several patrons of trustee zone 2 and asked for their input on which one they would like to see. Hoene then compiled his results and started contacting from the top to see if they would take the position if offered. Hill was second on his list and accepted. Also Della Gehring and Hoene were declared re-elected to their posts as they were the only ones who filed. The negotiations agreement with the teachers was ratified and includes the 3% pay raise funded by the state legislature. Also it was recommended to offer all the teachers contracts for next year. Board chairman Roy Schumacher had one he wanted to discuss in executive session so board action was delayed until after that session. A change was approved for the school calendar for 2007-08. Due to the state track meet being a week later next year, graduation was moved back a week to May 31 so that there wouldn’t be a conflict. The state track meet is a week later because Boise State is hosting the Western Athletic Conference track & field championships on the normal state track weekend. Resignations were accepted from Duane Uhlenkott and Lynn Gehring. Uhlenkott was the computer tech person for the district and there will be some planning meetings on how to replace him as they don’t have anyone who has experience with the servers. Gehring was the Elementary School custodian. There was a lot of discussion on proposed summer projects at the buildings. The board delayed a couple of big ticket items and asked for some estimated costs on others while giving the go-ahead on all the minor issues. The district has about $128,000 to work with in paying for maintenance work. The auditor was approved. Presnell & Gage is asking a 6% increase in cost to $5,275. The contract for school psychologist and special education supervisor Bob Smith was discussed. The district had been sharing him with Nezperce and Highland. He is semi-retiring and wants to cut back to being on-call at the other schools and go to part-time at Prairie. Cost to the district would be a little less for roughly the same amount of service time. The board members asked Superintendent Stan Kress to bring the proposed contract to the next meeting. Kress discussed the ISEEO lawsuit. Bob Huntley the lawyer who spearheaded the effort would like to take the case to a federal court at no cost to the member districts. He feels the Idaho Supreme Court didn’t do there job when they declared the member school districts the winner then washed their hands of it. Huntley can’t file as himself and asked Kress and the Cottonwood School District to be among those named on the case. Kress had said he would but after discussion, the board members expressed reservations and voted against having the district named. Kress expressed regret with the decision saying our district was one of those that gained a lot from the lawsuit and could stand to gain a lot more. He said with the maintenance money the state now provides that they have already gained more than was ever put into the lawsuit. In administrative reports Greg Deiss reported things have been very busy at the Elementary School. They had teacher appreciation day, a volunteer luncheon, the school concert, a safety program, science fair, and several field trips. Upcoming are releasing the steelhead, history bee, roller skating party, more field trips and the 4th grade going to Prairie Middle School to get acquainted with the school they’ll be attending next year. In the summer they’ll also be working with St. Mary’s Church and their Vacation Bible School in June and a summer school session will be held in July. Dave Snodgrass reported that they had 2 science fairs. The first one being ended by a fire when an experiment went awry. Snodgrass reported the fire was quickly put out and there was no damage from the fire. They called the fire department to make sure there were no additional problems and their fans helped to blow the smoke out. Snodgrass reported the only damage came when J.D. Riener went for a fire extinguisher and it wouldn’t come off it’s mounting easily and he wound up just yanking it off the wall. He reported the student body elections were held with Jessica Gehring elected president, Sarah Arnzen vice president, Christa Wilson sec./treas. and Emily Lerandeau and Kristi Poxleitner spirit leaders. He reported there were mixed reviews on the 8-block schedule used when one of the spring sports had to leave early for a game or meet. The good far outweighed the bad as those students were able to attend every class that way. The only real downside is the 8th period wound up as a study hall for those that remained and many would bring excuses from home so they could leave early too. Kress reported that it’s been a good year. He also said he’d been asked by Snodgrass to speak for about 20 minutes at the PHS awards assembly on Wednesday. The board adjourned to an executive session at 9:40 p.m. The next regular meeting of the board will be Monday, June 18 at 7 p.m. From the School Board As the end of another school year approaches, we, the school board members of District 242, extend congratulations to all of the graduating seniors and their families. We are proud of them and all of the students in our community. With graduation time comes celebrations and parties. As your school board, we ask all of you, students, parents, and patrons to join with us in helping to keep each other safe. This board does not believe that it takes a village to raise a child, that is the responsibility of the parents. We ask that you as parents reaffirm with your children and other parents that the legal age for drinking alcohol in the state of Idaho is 21 and this law is not suspended, nor does it fluctuate at graduation, the prom or any social function. The most effective method of teaching is through personal example. Neither the police, the administration, nor the school board can substitute for the guidance, love, or responsibility of the parent. The motto of our school district is “Every child learning every day.” We believe as parents and adults the majority of the responsibility to insure that every child learns everyday and grows into a responsible law-abiding adult rests firmly in the structure of the family. We ask that parents talk to their children and other parents about what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior on behalf of the children and other adults. This it too important to remain silent and expect change. The school board and administration will continue to move in a positive and productive direction with our schools and community. Thank you for all of your input and support. Roy Schumacher, Kelli Bruner, Della Gehring, Gus Hoene
and Bill Hill
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