The school board held their regular August meeting Monday, August 15 and filled several open positions plus had to face a late resignation.
Steve Wilson resigned from his 8^th grade Jr. High Girls Basketball, 8^th grade Jr. High Boys Basketball and assistant softball coaching positions as he has taken a new job in the Portland area.
The most critical of those to fill was the Jr. High Girls Basketball as that season starts the first day of school. 7^th grade coach Daphne Hanson was moved up to the 8^th grade position and Kim Harman was approved for hire as the new 7^th grade coach.
An emergency declaration was approved for Jarret Nuxoll to fill the Ag teacher position for the 2022-23 school year. Nuxoll is a certified welder but doesn’t have the teaching credentials, hence the emergency declaration.
Former Prairie music teachers John Eynon and Laurie Karel were approved for hire as music teachers. Eynon would do the 5^th grade and up bands while Karel would deal with the K-4 music.
In both the ag and music fields, Jon Rehder said he has communicated with the U of I and they have large classes of students in both fields that would be graduating in the Spring. He said he would contact the university in December or so and see if some of those students would be willing to visit Prairie in hopes of finding people to fill those positions for the 2023-24 school year.
Erika Shears was approved for hire as the new JV volleyball coach and with the large turnout this year, Shears’ mother, Marlene Forsmann agreed to return to the bench and be the C coach and was approved by the school board.
In other business the audit report was presented with the auditor stating they found no issues during the audit and praised school clerk-treasurer Denise Uhlenkott for keeping things straight in a difficult year dealing with all the extra government funds due to COVID. The report was accepted by the board.
Grade policy in the student handbook was discussed and made consistent with District policy. Kindergarten and 1^st grade will have 3 levels of numbered grades while 2^nd grade will be changed to letter grades just like 3^rd through 12^th.
District and school handbooks were approved for the upcoming school year with some minor changes from last year.
The Elementary and Jr./Sr. High Schedules were also approved as were the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) regulations. CIPA regulations were unchanged from last year but need to be approved every year by the board.
Bus routes were approved for the new school year and are published on page 16 in this week’s Chronicle.
Jr./Sr. High School Principal Matt Elven reported they purchased new high school volleyball standards and equipment. These will only be used for high school volleyball while the old standards will be used during PE classes.
The cameras have all been installed and are working very well. They didn’t install the one that would be at the front of the gym due partly to cabling issues plus the fact it would be moved anyway once construction starts  on the new gym entrance.
They had 107 athletes attend the sports meeting August 8. At the high school level they have 20 in football, 33 in volleyball, 12 in cross country and 3 in cheerleading.
Rehder said they may not have a cheerleading program this year due to the low numbers.
Open coaching positions are 8^th grade boys basketball, varsity baseball and assistant softball. Elven said he has had 2 applicants for baseball and 1 inquiry for the concession manager. Board member Pat Alfrey said she’d be willing to help with concessions on game nights but wouldn’t be able to do any supply ordering. Rehder and Elven both said the school takes care of keeping things stocked.
Jon Rehder reported that Summer School wrapped up on August 11. It went well.
He is in the process of preparing for staff to return to the building.
On Tuesday, August 23 they will have a Back to School meeting. Eric Coffelt will be doing CPR training for staff and coaches. Chloe Rowland and Holli Schumacher will be presenting a Stop the Bleed and Lockdown Training. This is through HOSA and Prairie is the first school in the state with this program.
On August 24^th a member of the Idaho County Sheriff’s Department will present an active shooter training in the morning.
August 25, 29^th and 30^th teachers will work in their classrooms and Wednesday, August 31 will be the first day of class for students.
Rehder presented a Fall Camp proposal from Kim Schumacher. 5^th and 6^th grade students used to attend the McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) each year. Schumacher is proposing a similar event near Dworshak with math and science curriculum. Cost would be about $1400 total. Funding would come from donations and student funds this year. Plans are to go every other year and Schumacher has proposed fundraisers to pay for this program in the future. The board will make this an action item at the next meeting.
Student drop off and pickup – Rehder said he has had an issue with parents going directly to a student’s class room to pick up their student for appointments such as to the dentist or doctor. This is disruptive to the class. He would like to have parents check in at the office and they can have a district staff member go and get the student.
Prairie Elementary ranked second in the state for reading proficiency increases with a nearly 38% increase.
In his facility report Rehder reported they had an issue with the gym floor refinishing. The company he contacted had issues getting the product needed to complete the job. Rehder finally cancelled with them and went to another company  that makes their own product. The floors will be done this week instead of back in July like planned. This necessitates cancelling volleyball practice for 3 days this week and cancelling the Jamboree scheduled for next Tuesday.
Tiles are done at the Elementary School. All went well except for one room that had issues and they wound up putting carpet tile in that room instead. Carpet tiles are done at the high school. Flooring in the Auxiliary Gym is done as well.
Rick Forsmann completed the water system upgrades at the Elementary School and it is working great.
A new burger barn is being built at the football field.
They had an inmate labor crew that help cover pipes in the Elementary School and did some work on the school grounds as well for 4 days this summer.
The new water heaters have been installed and electrical has been hooked up at the Elementary School.
They are continuing work with Wemhoff Architecture on the high school gym foyer work. He expects to go out to bid around the first of the year.
In his superintendent’s report Rehder said they will have 3 students teachers this fall. Kristina Villamor will be student teaching in the 2^nd grade with Micah Weber. Hannah Winter will be student teaching for Darbie Duclos at the high school this fall and will become her long-term sub when Duclos’ baby arrives in November. Chynna Karel will be working with Jeff Martin, Liz McLeod and Shane Chapman in both science and art.
A new bus has been ordered and will be ready for the 2023-24 school year.
They have 51 open enrolled students this year.
Total enrollment is up 9 over last year with 2 new students arriving Monday.
The meeting adjourned at 8:18 p.m. The next regular meeting is set for Monday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.