| School
Board meets
The school calendar for the 2020-21 school year was approved at the December meeting of the school board Monday, December 16. The board approved the recommendation of the calendar committee. The approved calendar can be found below. The board also approved changing the meeting dates and or times for the January and February meetings which fall on holidays. The January meeting will be moved to Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m. The February meeting will still be on President’s Day, Feb. 17, but the starting time will be moved to 7 p.m. A couple of resignations were accepted. Molly Wimer resigned as a bus driver and Jeff Martin resigned as Jr. High Girls Basketball coach. Cottonwood Police Chief Terry Cochran did a presentation on the Active Threat Integrated Response Class held at the high school recently. He said it went very well with 30 agencies from here to the Canadian border participating. He said their next step is training people on site. Statistics show it takes 15-20 minutes for emergency personnel to arrive when called but it can only take 3 to 10 minutes for someone to bleed to death depending on the severity of their injury. Training people how to respond on site could save lives. He says there is an 8 hour class coming up that will be free to attend. More information when it gets closer. After that there would be some expense for medical supplies such as having tourniquets handy. He personally carries a couple of tourniquets at all times. He also commended Rene’ Forsmann and Jon Rehder for their cooperation. In her facilities report, Forsmann said they will be doing the rest of the elementary roof and are working on getting bids. The Monastery will be upgrading the water line from the well to the cistern. Approximate cost is $85,000. The School District will pay part of the costs as that is their water supply for the high school. A parking lot resurfacing for the high school and replacing the bell/intercom systems are other projects being eyed. Some of the costs could be covered by a reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools federal funding. A 2-year reauthorization is part of an end of the year funding bill working its way through the U.S. Senate. Forsmann said they may also need to look into get a new lawn mower. In her Elementary report Forsmann said they are having continued success with the PBIS program monitoring and rewarding good behavior. This has been resulting in fewer referrals to the office. The Elementary Concert went well. Hearing screenings are nearly done. Progress reports went out Dec. 6. There will be some teacher reassignments next year as a couple of smaller classes work their way through. Ashle’ Sowa will be moved to 1st grade while one of the fifth grade teachers will move to either 3rd or 4th grade. In her superintendent’s report Forsmann said the Master Educator Premium will continue. They have two individuals who are appealing. She helped judged interviews for the regional BPA competition. A bus is down as it needs a motor repair. Dave Shears is getting that completed. The district has a large mixer listed for sale on their website. This is a large mixer that was replaced by a new one received through a state grant. The old pickup sold. Jon Rehder reported Prairie won the Idaho County Shootout trophy for the third year in a row. They had almost 3,000 cans of food donated with $4,600 in cash plus another $1,630 in business donations. The football banquet was held Dec. 8 and was well attended. The coaches did a great job recognizing player accomplishments. The football team also took part in the Christmas parade earlier that evening and stopped by the fire station to visit. Several speakers will be at the high school on Thursday to talk about vaping, drug and alcohol use and personal experiences. This will be held from 12:30 to 3 p.m. The Christmas concert went very well. Rehder said the “kids did awesome.” He will be working on schedules for next year over Christmas break. The meeting adjourned at 6:21 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m.  |
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