| School
Board meets
The school board held their regular May meeting Monday, May 20 and discussed the possibility of starting school earlier. There have been some problems with spring sports at the high school and students involved in those sports missing dual credit classes and struggling to make them up. Superintendent Rene’ Forsmann though she’d put out for discussion the possibility of starting school a half hour earlier at 8 a.m. and dismissing at 2:30 p.m. With the 2:30 dismissal there would be very few occasions of lost class time for afternoon sports. School starting earlier would also lead to the buses having to run a half hour earlier. A couple of the bus routes would be making their first pickups before 6:30 a.m. Bus supervisor David Shears said the drivers had no problem with the morning change but had some concerns with the earlier afternoon routes. Shears also had a proposed change to two of the routes, regardless of whether they go to an earlier time. Rick’s bus is getting some new students next fall and it is loaded already. He’s proposing that the Uptmor, Poxleitner and Geis pickups go to Rod’s bus which would be rerouted some and Rick’s would stay pretty much the same except for the above mentioned stops. Rod would no longer go to the river with the one family down there that is picked up getting compensation for providing their own transportation. The board and administration are looking for feedback on this matter. Another item they are seeking feedback on is a proposed change to the open enrollment policy. There are currently 43 open enrollment students with 12 of those being children of Prairie teachers that live outside the district. Forsmann said she feels they need some leeway on whether or not to accept open enrollments and proposes the following change: “J. The parent/guardian of a student who is open enrolled who has poor attendance, and/or poor discipline, and/or poor grades during their time in a school of the District will be notified that the open enrollment status may be rescinded and their child may be required to return to their original district of residence at the end of a grading period.” In other business the board approved a proposal to have a family pass for home games. The proposal is for a maximum charge of $15 for a family. With a family defined as students who are currently enrolled in grades K-12 and their parents/guardians. Current rates are $5 for adults, $4 for grades 7-12 and college students, $3 for K-6 students and senior citizens. Preschool and younger are free. If the total comes to less than $15 you’d pay the lesser amount but no more than $15. This was approved by the board. An early graduation request was approved for Laurel Henry. She is looking to graduate in 2014 and would otherwise be a junior. Presnell & Gage was approved again as the auditor for a rate of $7625, a 4% increase over last year. Denise Uhlenkott checked with other districts and this is a very good rate. The Preschool/Center for Discovery agreement was approved for another year with no changes from last year. Susie Quintal, currently at Clearwater Valley, was approved for the open Counselor position. A resignation was accepted from 7th grade boys basketball and junior high football coach Ed Holthaus. In the facilities update proposed upgrades to the bus shop at the high school were discussed. Currently when the longer buses are backed inside you can’t get the hood open if you close the door. If you put a door in the north side and go in that way there’s plenty of room. The north section is currently storage for the shop classes but that could be moved. Shears said putting a door on the north side would also make it a lot easier to get a bus inside as it is a tight turn for the longer buses with the current setup. Shears got a quote from Rusty Lorentz on what needs to be done although there were parts of what was quoted that weren’t necessarily needed. The board asked if he could ask again for a couple of quotes, one for bringing the concrete floor level on the two portions involved plus the doors and another for doing the whole project. Forsmann also provided a list of the projects either completed or in progress to the board totaling to the $50,000 allowed by the board. In her administrative report Forsmann listed the field trips attended by students. May 30 will be awards day at the Elementary School. In her superintendent’s report she noted she attended the Common Core meeting in Grangeville with Gus Hoene. Common Core is now Idaho Core and the SBAC test (Smarter Balanced Assessement) has been renamed to ISAT. A retirement party is planned for the retiring staff members on May 29. Everyone is invited. Coming up she has an Idaho Leads meeting on June 10 in Boise and an IDLA meeting June 12-14. Carrie Nygaard reported they have 26 students in driver’s training. The awards assembly is set for Thursday, May 23. She reported there will be two foreign exchange students next year. One is from Spain and the other from Japan. She also reported that Rebekah Bruner has been named as the IDHSAA and Idaho Dairymen Interscholastic Star. She was selected from 40 applicants in the 1-A division. Interscholastic Stars are recognized as student/athletes who give back to the community and are highly involved in their schools. She will receive a $1000 scholarship, have her picture in IHSAA publications and the school will receive a banner to hang in the gym. ASB elections were held May 14 and the winners will be announced at the awards assembly on Thursday. The next regular meeting of the board will be Monday, June 17 at 7 p.m. |
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