Extracurricular assignments for the 2022-23 school year were approved at the July meeting of the school board Monday, July 18. They are printed elsewhere in this week’s update.
Superintendent Jon Rehder also went over where they are at in the proposed gym foyer expansion at the high school gym. He has been working with Rhonda Wemhoff going over the possibilities and trying to keep existing walls where they can. After discussions with Wemhoff they decided to build both men’s and women’s restrooms to the right of the current entrance. That way the plumbing is all in the same place. They would then rebuild the concession stand where the current restrooms are and convert the current concession stand to storage for things like the chairs, extra basketball hoops and volleyball standards that are now stored on the stage and use the stage storage for other things that aren’t quite so heavy to move up there. Wemhoff told Rehder construction estimates are usually only good for about 30 days. He would like to be able to call for bids in December with construction slated to start in March after basketball season is over. For things like the prom and graduation they can bring people into the gym through an alternate entrance as the gym itself won’t be seeing any construction. See page 2 for architect’s drawing.
During the discussion of the addition snow removal came up and board member Gus Hoene suggested they look into getting a loader that could take the snow and put it somewhere out of the way rather than piling it up and losing potential parking places.
The board accepted the resignation of assistant volleyball coach Kayla Schumacher who ran into scheduling difficulties with her new job at Grangeville when they went to a 4-day school week.
Bus Rental rates, Per Diem rates and Facility use rates were all approved at the same rates as last year.
Hot lunch prices for 2022-23 were set at $2.40 for Elementary students, $2.95 for jr./sr. high students, $5.50 for adults and $2 for jr./sr. high breakfast. They hadn’t had hot lunch prices the past couple of years as they were paid for by the federal government.
In his Jr./Sr. High report Matt Elven noted he had taken on the project of sanding, repairing and refinishing the front of the stage when they were told by the company that was doing the gym floors that it would cost $8000 for them to do it.
Lindsley’s is installing carpet tiles and should be finished this week.
New cameras are installed at the high school although a couple are on backorder.
The volleyball Dusk ‘Til Dawn tournament was held July 8-9 with 11 teams in addition to the 4 Prairie teams. Kristin Wemhoff and Tara Schlader ran it as their senior projects.
An alumni volleyball tournament was hosted by Riley Enneking as her senior project on July 15.
The Spike Frog Volleyball Camp will be held July 21-23.
Football and volleyball practice will start August 10. The Fall sports meeting will be held August 8.
Registration day is August 17.
Jon Rehder reported that Back to School night will be Monday, Aug. 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. with an open house at the Elementary School.
He will be getting the class lists out in early August.
In his superintendent’s report he noted he and Elven will be attending the administration conference in Boise Aug. 3-4.
The new bus engine has been installed and the bus is back at the bus shed.
Dave Shears has ordered a school bus for the 2023-24 school year now since they are backed up on orders. It will likely be 12 months before it gets here.
He has ordered the new shot clocks. They are expected to ship in the middle of November. He is glad he ordered them now.
They need bus drivers. They are looking for community individuals interested in getting certified so they can fill in when regular drivers aren’t available or as activity drivers.
Rehder said he thinks he has a temporary fix for the music and ag teacher positions. Former music teachers Laurie Karel and John Eynon are interested in helping until a permanent person can be found. Karel would do the Elementary music while Eynon would handle 5^th grade through high school band. Both said they don’t want to see the school drop the program.
He also has a possibility for Ag teacher if the state will go along with the emergency protocol as the person interested would not be certified.
They are still looking for a concessions manager.
In his facilities report he noted the storage container is in place behind the Auxiliary Gym and the wrestling mats have been stored inside. Other items may also wind up stored there.
Cameras are also installed at the Elementary School and are up and running.
The gym floors at all 3 gyms will be refinished July 25-27.
Electrical updates are being done at the Elementary School. Some of this was for new wall heaters being installed in Kim Schumacher’s room and also getting things set up in case there are other heaters going out in that wing of the building as those heating units are now over 20 years old.
Live Wire Electric has installed the new LED lights at the Auxiliary Gym. They are very bright and cost effective plus thanks to rebates from Avista they didn’t cost that much to install.
New water pipes at the Elementary should be completed by the end of July.
The old water heaters at the Elementary have been removed. City Electric will come in next week to convert the wiring for the new ones and once that it done the new ones will be installed.
The football fieldhouse is being expanded. Roy Uhlenkott and Jerry Richardson will be adding an addition on the east side to build a new burger barn that will help with weather issues at football games and track meets. The current burger barn has been sold to Cottonwood Youth Sports who will move it to the Wimer ballfields.
The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. The next regular meeting would be Monday, August 15 at 7 p.m.