| School
Board meets
The school board held their regular April meeting last Wednesday, April 20. A resignation from the Center for Discovery was approved with Michelle Huttash approved for hire as a replacement. The senior project proposal was approved. 2 students will do a pilot practice and will be able to skip it in their senior year. This will be treated as a pass/fail class and is not during any one class. The state is moving towards making this a graduation requirement and some schools already require a senior project. The walls and doors are complete in the high school lower level with ceiling and furnace the next items to be done. With the next board meeting set for May 16 and the school concert set for the same day they would like to offer the patrons a chance to check out the lower floor as work should be finished well before then. They are still waiting for a response from an attorney on whether they can continue to use Bott and Associates or do they need to rebid. Gus Hoene was appointed to be the board member of the negotiations team. He will team with Randy Brown and Rene’ Forsmann to make up the district’s negotiation team. In administrative reports Brown noted there were close to 200 people who turned out for the Showcase night. He also reported that cellphones are becoming more of an issue because or Facebook, Twitter, etc. This will need to be addressed and he feels it needs to be looked at as a community thing. Currently cell use is allowed between classes and lunch and before and after school. On Tuesday, April 26 they were to have a Webinar on the Idaho Education Network about video teaching to other schools. Any of our teachers who teach a class in this manner could provide extra funds for both the teacher and the school. Our district is one of 30 schools that can both send and receive information at this point with 15 more to be added in the next year. ISAT testing also started this week. Greg Diess reported that the steelhead eggs were obtained over spring break and have now hatched out. They will be released into Lawyer Creek toward the end of May. Calli Perrin won the perfect attendance prize for March with only 64 students eligible, a low for the year. The elementary school lost 4 students last month and will lose two more at the end of April with one new on coming in. The third quarter Accelerated Reading reward event was a carnival put on by the Center for Discovery in the gym on April 13. The old district office area, both upstairs and down, is almost entirely empty now. ISAT testing started April 12. The Lions Club held vision and hearing screenings for all grades on April 18. Idaho Reading Indicator testing is to start the final week of April. Forsmann reported that ISAT testing is going well at the Middle School in all 4 grades. All grades take the Reading, Language Arts and Math while the 5th and 7th grades also take the Science test. In her superintendent’s report Forsmann said she has met with all of the staff regarding the outlook for next year. She also reported that although the medical and dental insurance rates increased, they were less than expected. She reported that she met with the Chamber of Commerce to provide information on the levy. They will still have some federal jobs money for next year but it is $5,000 less than last year. 8 staff members went to Mileposts training in Nezperce on April 11. This is a program to look at students’ current assessment data, historical records etc. so teachers can better design appropriate classroom instruction. The Milepost cost $5. The state provides a free program called Schoolnet but they’ve discovered this does not give the reports and information needed. The Professional-Technical Audit was to be done April 21. Forsmann met with Sheri Daly and Denise Uhlenkott to discuss this. Uhlenkott, Forsmann and Della Gehring attended Law Institute in Boise and will have information to share soon. The time for the next board meeting was set for 5:45 p.m. May 16 with the concert to follow at 7 p.m. The board adjourned at 8:12 p.m. |
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