| School
Board meets
The school board held a short meeting Monday, Dec. 15. School funding was discussed as Governor Butch Otter is looking at a 4% decrease due to the economic downturn. Superintendent Gary Blaz said the administration and board will need to take a closer look at the budget to see what they can do. He said he feels they need to be proactive on this. There will be more discussion on this at future board meetings as more information becomes available from the state. Tova Cladouhos was approved as a Teacher to New. This is a program where the state department of education gives 3 years to get certification in certain areas. Cladouhos is working on certification in counseling. A provisional certificate was approved for Janice Baldus, the special education teacher at the high school. She has been taking classes to reach full certification. A transfer of $1307.81 from the general fund to the driver’s ed fund was approved. The board also approved a change of date for January’s meeting. It will be Tuesday, Jan. 20 at the Elementary School. The regular meeting date is the Martin Luther King Day holiday. The board will meet with staff and have administration reports at 6 p.m. with the meeting to start at 6:30 p.m. A safety inspection has been held and there were just two concerns. More training with usage of chemicals for cleaning was recommended and any donated furniture must be fire retardant and have documentation. The discussion on the crisis facility use policy and early graduation application were postponed to next month. In administrative reports Rene’ Forsmann reported the Direct Writing and Direct Math Assessment tests have been given at the Middle School. She also reported that middle school students went to Rathdrum for the FIRST LEGO League. Three teams went from PMS. (See story and photos elsewhere in this week’s Chronicle). There was Knowledge Bowl on Dec. 8 at the high school cafeteria. PMS had 3 teams competing. Next competition will be Jan. 5. Also Whitney Sonnen took first in the IFPC’s essay competition for grades 6-8. (See last week’s Chronicle). Todd Shumway reported 3 week grade checks were made and coaches were notified of player eligibility. The football team and cheerleaders each had their end of the season banquet and awards ceremonies. About 250 people attended the football banquet. On dual enrollment Shumway said LCSC is looking into offering dual enrollment credit for music and theatre classes at PHS. Shumway also reported that the Lewiston Tribune had a nice feature on the programs in their Nov. 28 issue. Students have kicked off a penny war for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and for the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation that ends this week. They also kicked off a food drive to benefit our local needy population. The PAVE students will be packaging the foods and supplies this Friday for distribution. Shumway also reported that the ISAT Science component has been put back in as a graduation requirement starting with the class of 2013. Upcoming events are the high school concert on Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. and the Gift of the Magi performance which is set for Dec. 21 at 3 p.m. Gary Blaz reported that the Christmas concert went very well. During the early out they discussed ways to get to the next level of teaching methods. The goal is to have a smart board, laptop and projector in each room. A presentation will be held at the next board meeting. An attendance assembly was held last Monday and five students won lunch with the principal. As superintendent he is still looking into alternative heating systems. Information will be provided at the January board meeting. He is working with Steve Mead to come up with a date for board training in-service. He also met with the health insurance provider on next year’s increase in premiums. A 9% increase is expected. He has also been meeting with Denise on possible cuts for upcoming years. They hope to present some solutions at the new few board meetings. The board adjourned at 6:43 p.m. The next meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. at the Elementary School library. |
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