| Lynn
Guyer appointed to school board
Lynn Guyer was appointed to the school board at the regular December meeting Monday, Dec. 21. Guyer will fill the position vacated when Bill Hill turned in his resignation at the November meeting. Guyer and Scott Perrin both showed interest in the position and both candidates were interviewed independently by the board. Both men gave well-thought out answers to the board’s questions. The board adjourned to an executive session to discuss the merits of each applicant. Board clerk Denise Uhlenkott said it was a tough decision between the two. In other business the board voted to switch their employee health insurance from Regence to Blue Shield. Uhlenkott and superintendent Gary Blaz looked into changing their carrier when they received notice of price hikes in their policy. The Blue Shield policy would be at approximately their old rate and they feel it offers better coverage. The junior high wrestling program was discussed. There are only about 4 students interested. High school coaches Steve Lamont and Dan Altman offered to integrate the junior high practices with the high school and the dual meets are set up so that the junior high matches would take place before the high school ones so there would be no extra transportation. There would also be no extra coaching compensation for the junior high wrestling. The board accepted the proposal worked out between the administration and coaches to keep the program going. Blaz asked the board for some direction in developing a consistent policy with regard to activities transportation. Who should pay for what. Board members asked for a list of the activities that require bus transportation. Gus Hoene wanted to be sure field trips were separated from sports. This appears to be an ongoing discussion over the next couple of months. The January board meeting was switched from Monday, January 18 to Tuesday, January 19 due to the Martin Luther King Day holiday. It will also be held at the Middle School at 6:30 p.m. as the board meetings will rotate among the school buildings over the next few months. Blaz reported the high school gym work is down to some checklist items. They are still working on some ventilators at the Middle School. Also at the Middle School they will be calling for bids for the upgrade to the kitchen in January. In administrative reports the high school report noted there will be some tile replacement in the upper hallway over Christmas break. Football team awards nigh was held Dec. 2 and the cheerleader awards were given out on Dec. 16. They hosted the Idaho County Shoot-out with Grangeville and had great attendance. Emphasis all week was on spirit and sportsmanship. Grade checks were completed and coaches notified. Other events are: TSA delivered Christmas gifts they built to Center for Discovery on Dec. 18. Winter concert was held Dec. 16. PHS hosted knowledge bowl on Dec. 14. Midterm grades were mailed out Dec. 9. Careers class invited several PHS alumni to speak about post high school planning on Nov. 24. In the Middle School report Rene’ Forsmann noted the school was a host site for a flu shot clinic on Nov. 24. 5th and 7th grades took the Direct Writing Assessment on Dec. 1 and on Dec. 2 the 6th and 8th grades took the Direct Math Assessment. On Dec. 5 the Lego League attended competition in Post Falls. National Hoop Shoot Day will be on January 9 at Grangeville. The Middle School winners were shown in last week’s Chronicle. PMS hosted Knowledge Bowl on Dec. 14 with 13 teams participating. The Prairie Middle School 8th graders took 1st place with the 7th graders taking 6th. At the Elementary School Blaz reported the concert on Dec. 18 was a huge success. Something different this year was that they had a visiting wrestling team spend the night in the gym so everyone had to take time to clean the gym after the concert. Title I program is running extremely well thanks to efforts of Allason Zenner. Attendance assemblies are being taken to heart. More and more students are talking about how important it is to try and win a bike. He is also hearing good reports from parents. Teacher Krystal Ellis delivered a healthy little girl and both are doing well. Mr. Pat Gallagher is filling in for the duration of her family leave. In his superintendent’s report Blaz said he is very pleased with the way the gym turned out. He is also pleased they were able to discover some other water problems during the process and get them fixed. He is working on some evaluation tools for administrators, secretaries and maintenance staff. He will attend the monthly superintendent meeting in Lewiston on Wednesday and should get some initial information on funding, certified evaluation, Middle School credits, etc. He has been working with Rhonda Wemhoff at Bott & Associates on future facility planning. He hopes to have more pertinent information for the Jan. 7 board workshop. He also should have a presentation from McKinstrey Industries on the high school heating system at the January meeting. The board adjourned to an executive session at 8:30 p.m. The next meeting will be Tuesday, January 19 at the Middle School. |
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