School Board meets
The school board approved the budget for the 2026-27 school year at their regular June meeting Monday, June 15.
They also approved hiring Micah Weber as the new 5^th grade teacher replacing Alecia Hagen who had resigned. Superintendent Jon Rehder said they had 3 very good candidates that they interviewed and Weber was their choice.
The Monastery presented a new water and sewer agreement that would take effect in June of 2027. Rehder said at that point the cost per month to the High School for the services would double from $425 per month to $850, which is still a good deal for the school. The board voted to approve the new agreement.
Policies 2550, which deals with field trips and eligibility to attend and 3420 which deals with student fundraising, had their first readings. After some discussion it was decided to table those to next month to give the board members some time to study the proposed changes and come up with any modifications they would like to see.
A large group of policies were presented for their second reading. The board voted to approve all but two of them which they would like to further discuss.
The preschool agreement was discussed and tabled to next month for more information.
Debbie Schmidt and Judelle Schmidt of Ferdinand presented a proposal to have the school bus stops in Ferdinand moved to the park. This gets away from having children wait on private property and the bus goes right past the park to get to the current stops anyway. This will be looked at when bus routes are finalized in August.
In the administrative reports Matt Elven noted the Jr./Sr. High spring band concert went very well on May 26. Also the 6^th grade tour of the building went well on May 21.
The PHS awards assembly was held May 29.
The band took a trip to Silverwood and also took first place at a band competition at Timberlake High School which is just a few miles from Silverwood.
8 FFA students went to the U of I for FFA state career development events. Kade Hanson, Henry Rehder, Matt Frei and Ray Terhaar competed in Ag Mechanics and placed 28^th and Dylan Klapprich, Kane McIntire, Lillian Rehder and Maggie Nuxoll competed in livestock judging and placed 9^th.
Elven presented data on  attendance and discipline for the year showing numbers dropped for both from last year.
He also reviewed the ISAT results showing Prairie students did very well with the only group testing below state averages was 8^th grade science.
In the Elementary school report Rehder said class lists for the 2026-27 school year are completed and on June 3 students got to visit their classrooms for next year and meet with the teachers.
The Spring concert was held on May 29. It lasted almost 2 hours. Rehder said he visited with Ms. Baldwin about trying to dial to down to about an hour if possible.
30 Kindergartners graduated on June 1 with each youngster walking down the aisle with 1 or 2 of the 2026 high school graduates.
Field Day was held on June 3 and the end of year awards assembly was held on June 4.
Rehder shared results of the IRI and showed marked improvement for near all students from the October test to the May test.
He also shared ISAT results which were generally very good with a couple of exceptions.
In his facilities report he said crack sealing in the upper parking lot at the high school is mostly done although they had to pivot to some different fill material for a couple of the larger cracks. They will get the upper lot and the road down to Keuterville Road chip sealed later this summer.
On June 11& 12, Fisher Systems tested and reviewed both buildings’ fire systems.
Rick Forsmann is looking at July to work on the high school plumbing.
In the Elementary school the lower hall classrooms will be stripped and waxed this year along with the lower hallway. K-1 classrooms will be shampooed and waxed. The 4^th grade rooms, one 5^th grade classroom and the special education room will get shampooed.
Gym floors will be refinished June 29-July 1. The high school and elementary gyms will then be closed until August when practices start, The Auxiliary Gym will reopen on July 8.
A couple of Elementary classrooms were carpeted and the former elementary library has become the new multi-purpose room. In the new multi-purpose room they walled off three 10x10 classrooms which still leaves a 30x30 main room.
The Monastery will be dredging the sewer lagoons this summer or fall. Cost is $306, 210.45. The school district pays 35% as their share of the cost which would be $107,172.66.
In his superintendent report Rehder said they still have 4 positions to fill – a paraprofessional at the elementary school, 2 paraprofessionals at the high school and a concessions stand manager. They are also looking to add to the sub list and also certified bus drivers to help with sub routes and activities.
June is school board appreciation month.
The levy passed with 67% approval.
The end of the year/retirement party at Keuterville Pub & Grub went well. Michelle Bledsoe was recognized with a plaque from the district and a gift from the elementary staff.