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Override levy set for $250,000 The school board accepted the resignation of Ryan Hasselstrom as Prairie’s head football coach at their February meeting held Tuesday, Feb. 22. Hasselstrom had been part of the Prairie football program for 24 of the past 25 years as either an assistant or head coach. The board also accepted the resignations of Katrina Bentley as the school nurse and Terryn Pitcher as the music teacher. Colleen Sonnen’s retirement was also approved by the board. The May 17 levy election was discussed and an override amount of $250,000 was approved with the possibility that it could go up or down depending on the funding that is yet to be approved by the state legislature. This amount is down from the $275,000 approved last year. Superintendent Jon Rehder state that with what they know at this time, $250,000 would cover their needs. The board approved a resolution to seek a $250,000 override on May 17. A request for an overnight stay for the FFA at Coeur d’Alene was approved by the board for safety reasons. They were to attend the Gem State Leadership Conference which was set to start at 8 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 28. They were asking to drive up on Sunday, Feb. 27 and spend the night rather than leave early on Monday. They were to return the evening of Feb. 28 after the conference ended at 5 p.m. In the Jr./Sr. High report, Matt Elven shared the current cell phone policy with the board. Since the last board meeting they have held a Knowledge Bowl on Jan. 24 with students competing against parents and staff. They also held the Golden Gala Ball on Jan. 29 in the basement of the Community Hall with 70 students in attendance. The Prairie League put this on. A 6th grade transition meeting was held Jan. 27 with Mrs. Quintal meeting with the 6th grade students to discuss class options and junior high transitions. The 6th graders will tour the school in May. Spring Dual Credit registration was held on January 31 with students meeting with LCSC representative Ashley James. On Feb. 1 an LCSC representative met with all the seniors planning on attending next fall. On Feb. 10 Rene Rehder met with juniors in Careers class to discuss Boise State. On Feb. 14 Mrs. Quintal completed the master schedule and distributed it to the staff for planning purposes. The ACT was held for 12 students on Feb. 12. An assessment and accountability survey was sent to students on Feb. 16. It was sent to parents and staff on Feb. 23. Spring sports practices started Feb. 25. A Knowledge Bowl meet was held Monday, Feb. 28. It was held virtually with Prairie students in the cafeteria competing against other schools at their own schools. In a winter sports overview, Elven reported they host 22 girls and or boys basketball games with a tremendous amount of help from staff and patrons. Upcoming events are a Sheriff’s office job fair on March 1; Higher education day on March 18; a blood drive on March 29 and the Prom is set for May 7. Jon Rehder reported he is continuing with the R3 cards and holding the assemblies for monthly recognition. Some of the Elementary students performed at halftime of the boys basketball game against Grangeville on Tuesday, Feb. 8 and did a great job under the direction of Shawnda Wright. The school spelling bee was held on Feb. 11 from 9-10 a.m. with 8th grader Ryan Stewart emerging as the school’s winner. He will move on to the regional competition on March 12. After handing out a literacy curriculum and receiving feedback from the staff, they decided not to go with that particular one. In his facilities report, Rehder noted they received the bill for the wireless pump at the monastery. The district pays 35% of the costs due to their water system providing water for the high school. Rick Forsmann’s wages for his help in installing the system was deducted. Rehder said they are still looking into drilling a well but it is not that pressing with the pump updates to the Monastery system. CompuNet will be coming in over Spring break to pull cables for the cameras to be installed in both buildings. Products are arriving and should all be here before the major installation beginning in June. Rehder, Elven and Forsmann met with Rhonda Wemhoff and Kurt Johnson of Wemhoff Architecture to look as a possible gym foyer/restroom expansion project at the high school gym. If they decide to move forward he feels it would be a 2-year project with a goal completion date of Fall 2023. The final tile phase at the elementary school will take place in early June. At that time they will also be removing carpet and installing new carpet tiles at the high school. He is looking at putting an exterior door on the east side of the auxiliary gym. The door that is there is an interior style door and sucks the heat out of the building. He will contact Arnzen Building Construction about costs. Supplies are being ordered for new water lines at the elementary school. New water heaters will also be put in at the Elementary School this summer. They are working with LiveWire Electric on an Avista grant to switch out the lights in the Auxiliary Gym to LED lights. They are looking at doing that this summer. In his superintendent’s report Rehder said he received the school trustee zone boundary maps from the ISBA and had Ryan Hasselstrom print off 3 large maps on the high school printer. He reported there are several big ticket items coming up before the legislature. One is the state insurance fund which sounds like it would be a great deal for the district and staff. Another is an increase in certified and classified funding. He is still waiting to see what this will look like. A third is funding for all-day, everyday Kindergarten. There are currently 3 different bills proposed with 3 different ideas. If it is funded, Prairie would need to figure out how to accommodate it seeing that all the rooms at the Elementary School are being used already. They would likely also need a second Kindergarten teacher. A first reading of school board policies was done with board members asked to look them over before the next meeting. The board adjourned to an executive session at 6:55 p.m. The next regular meeting of the board is set for Monday, March 21 at 7 p.m. |
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