| 70
plus attend school board meeting
There were over 70 people in attendance at the April school board meeting with most there to show support for the boys basketball coaching staff and principal Randy Brown. Five people in attendance asked for speaking time. They were Seth Guyer, Brock Heath and Beau Schlader, all 2011 graduates who were on the boys basketball team last year, Kylee Simmons, another recent graduate, and Alex Stefan, a current senior at PHS. Guyer, Heath, Schlader and Simmons all expressed that they were there in support of the coaching staff and principal with Schlader contending that some of the accusations made at the March meeting were false. Stefan spoke about the Indigo Revolution, an anti-bullying group started recently by the students at Prairie High School. He said their group has over 100 students in grades 7 through 12 pledging support and their goal is to leave the school a better place than when they came in. In the regular part of the meeting, action was tabled on the coaches handbook as principal Randy Brown was not in attendance. Glenn Poxleitner was approved as the junior high track coach. The baseball coop with Kamiah was also approved. There is just 1 player involved. The Idaho School Board Association provides a free training session every 3 years and board members Pat Alfrey and Lynn Guyer have joined the board since the last one. Denise Uhlenkott would see if they can get someone in as the other three board members stated it is very beneficial. Superintendent Rene’ Forsmann reported work has started on the Elementary School addition with the timeline provided by the contractor showing a July 18 finishing date. That’s a little later than originally expected but still gives them time to get things moved before school starts in the fall. In the administration reports, Forsmann reported the 4th graders visited Dworshak on Feb. 28 and brought back steelhead eggs for the annual fish project. Students feed the hatched out fish until they are about an inch long and then release them on the river. The tank is located in Kim Schumacher’s classroom. She also reported the Idaho County Farm Bureau sponsored a presentation of Maggie, a traveling milk cow simulation, at Summit Academy on March 7 which Prairie students were invited to attend. An article and photos are elsewhere in this week’s Chronicle. She also reported that Pacific Science Center will be at Prairie Elementary on March 26 with “Space Odyssey” which features lessons on star search, worldwide skies and planet Mars. In her superintendent’s report she not she attended the annual Superintendent’s meeting Feb. 13-14 and attended several workshops. She also attended the VFW awards banquet March 10 where Prairie students Mckenzie Candalot and Anthony Karel were winners of the Voice of Democracy and Patriots Pen competition respectively and Laurie Karel was teacher of the year. She also reported that a state bus audit was done recently and Dave Remacle scored a 96%. The state transportation supervisor congratulated Remacle on a job well done. She also handed out levy info for area school districts, which show the override amount and cost per thousand dollars evaluation for each. Cottonwood has the third lowest override amount and the second lowest cost per thousand. Although Brown was not in attendance he provided a report. He noted the Showcase Night is set for March 28 and will run from 6 to 8 p.m. with dinner as well as music by the high school music program. This will be a chance to show some of the things students have accomplished this year. He noted there are 20 girls out for softball and 41 for track. With the lack of players turned out for baseball the team was dropped this year with 1 player taking advantage of a coop with Kamiah. A Higher Ed day was held for the junior class with Highland and Nezperce joining Prairie students as colleges sent representatives to meet with the students. 7th grade students were also involved as part of the GEAR UP program. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, April 16 at 7 p.m. |
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