| Hill
resigns from school board
Bill Hill submitted his resignation from the school board at the November meeting Monday, Nov. 23. He represented Trustee Zone #2. In other business the appeal process to the drug policy was discussed. The board gave direction to High School principal Todd Shumway as to the changes they’d like to see made. He will bring this to the next meeting. Terry Cochran and Joan Renshaw presented a 30 minute demonstration on school safety from materials they received at a recent class they attended. Jack Duman was also present to discuss right of way issues with East Street. Currently the school district owns the right-of-way and the city would like to see a Quit Claim Deed rectify this problem. Duman also reported the city is looking into grants to put a sidewalk on the East side of East Street. The board passed a motion to get the legal paperwork going to quit claim the right of way to the city. A safety inspection was held recently of the school buildings by the state. It was reported there were no problems that needed to be addressed. It was reported the Booster Club would like to purchase a retractable flag that comes down from the ceiling for the High School gym similar to what Troy and other area schools have. Board members expressed no concerns and gave the Boosters a go-ahead. Executive session procedures were discussed but more research needs to be done. This will be discussed again at the next meeting. It was noted that for regular agenda items, patrons just need to contact the District Office to put something on the agenda. Gary Blaz reported he would be putting a letter in the Chronicle regarding the asbestos abatement and gym floor work. He said the gym is getting close to being usable again with the girls and boys basketball games against Grangeville on Dec. 4 likely to be the first games on the new floor. Rene’ Forsmann mentioned that Fire Chief Rod Behler was up to discuss lowering the ceilings at the Middle School. Forsmann said if they lower the ceilings they may have a lot of other issues that need to be attended to because of safety codes, etc. She said the inspectors have never written this up as a safety issue. Dave Young and Janice Baldus were approved for Teacher to New. They are working on the appropriate certification and endorsements. A board retreat was set up for December 7 at 5 p.m. to go over the strategic plan which would be an action plan for the next few years. In administrative reports Forsmann said that Red Ribbon Week activities were a success. She also reported the 8th grade students visited LCSC as part of the GEAR UP program. Junior high boys basketball has started. They had good participation at the Parent-Teacher conferences with well over 80% of students having a parent attend. The junior high band and 7 of the 6th grade band members attended the District II Festival at Genesee on Nov. 18 and did well. Shumway reported the cafeteria/commons area construction has been completed. The gym floor has been pained and had 2 coats of finish applied. It will be available for Arnzen Construction to mount the bleachers on Nov. 30. The football team banquet will be held after the Thanksgiving break. No date set yet. Girls basketball has started with 2 games last week. Boys basketball practice started last week with boys not on the football team getting an early start. Wrestling practice started Monday. 55 students attended the Drug Free group’s Friday night active after the Oct. 30 football game. More activities will be scheduled during the winter after home games. HOSA students met with local health professionals, community members, parents and students to discuss the future of the health professionals program and Region 2 Academy. The state is no longer funding this and alternatives need to be found. The Veterans Day assembly at the Middle School was well done and they received many positive comments. Blaz reported they had over 95% attendance at the parent-teacher conferences. The Christmas Concert is set for Friday, Dec. 11 at 1 p.m. They have had very few cases of flu to this date. The first attendance bike winners were Paul Sonnen and Matt Coppernoll. In his superintendent report Blaz said the Health Insurance Committee is meeting to discuss possible changes. They are seeking quotes from Regence and Blue Cross. He is continuing to work with McKinstry Industries and the Monastery on heating systems and should have a report at the next meeting. Blaz reported there are bleak financial reports coming from the state. The State Superintendent is asking for a 9% increase while the Legislature is looking for a 5-12% cut. He also reported Sheri Daly has done a great job as school nurse regarding swine flu and keeping information out to the schools and parents. The board adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next regular meeting is set for Monday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. From the School Superintendent Bott & Associates were hired to oversee the project, to help secure bids, and to make sure all was done in a correct and timely manner. Core samples were taken and sent to labs to check the material make up and to check for asbestos. When the original report was returned, it had indicated that there was only 1.5% of asbestos, which meant that we could remove the floor ourselves to save money. The original estimate was upwards to $130,000.00, which included having the company remove and install the floor. Trying to save money, we asked the North Idaho Correctional Institution for some man power to tear up the old floor; which was made up of 9 inch maple strips held together with wired grooves, a layer of cork, and a layer of black mastic. With the help of our staff and 12 eager volunteers from the Institution, the floor was removed in a period of five days. After the floor was removed, it was brought to our attention that any sample over 1% had to have an asbestos abatement done by a competent company. With this information in mind we stopped the project, called the state EPA office and asked for guidance of what to do next since we had already made the mistake. After many phone conversations and paper work we were allowed to progress with abatement and through AHERA rules a third party was employed to oversee the cleanup project. Our goal with the cleanup project was to create the same amount of disturbance to the air that we did when removing the floor. By providing the air quality samples throughout the process, we were assured that we put no one in harms way by doing the abatement after the removal. At this same time, we discovered a few water leaks in the older plumbing that brought the project again to a halt. After the leaks were discovered and repaired, the flooring company progressed. Most of you are aware that there had been some major progress in preventing any water seepage in the high school area. So, on the 4th of December when we start playing our basketball season in our high school gym, you will see that we added roofing above the foyer, we repaired all exterior roofing, replaced and painted all damaged ceiling tiles in the foyer and gym, revamped the edges of stage to be able to use side baskets during practice, and installed a new updated floor. Estimated costs thus far: Abatement: AAI Demonstration-$18,969.00; Advanced Con-tractors-1,031.00; Engineer Environmentalists-5,018.57 (3rd party); Big Sky Flooring (est.)-70,000.00. The funding for this project came from the Craig / Wyden Forest Funds, which in our mind, is a good example of utilizing this one time money for a worthwhile project. Once you see the gymnasium I am most certain that you will be as proud as we are of the facilities. If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at 962-3971 or 962-3122. Gary Blaz Superintendent |
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