School Board meets
Carly Behler was approved for hire as the new business manager/clerk for the Cottonwood School District at the school board meeting Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Behler will take over from Denise Uhlenkott when Uhlenkott retires at the end of the school year. Hiring Behler now gives her time to work with Uhlenkott and learn the ropes before taking over.
The board approved the emergency school closure for Feb. 5.
Bids were opened for the high school window project. Bids were received from Andrew Miller with Clarkston Glass and Derek Vanderpass from Touch of Glass.
Touch of Glass was the apparent low bidder with a total of $126,988 for 10-year warranty windows. The other bid was $139,040.
A budget hearing date of Wednesday, June 11 at 7 p.m. was set by the board.
The board gave approval for use of the School Pulse & Idaho Youth Well Being Assessment.
Policy 4210, forms and procedures was discussed. Superintendent Jon Rehder said he would like to move all non-student community events to the Auxiliary Gym. This was due mainly to issues of access to other parts of the school buildings at the other gyms. Also discusses was issuing key fobs for the weight room at the high school when there is a professional gym in town. Having patrons come in to use the school’s weight room adds wear and tear to equipment that is better used by students. There were also issues with people coming in while classes are in session.
A motion was made and passed approving the changes addresses by Rehder and high school principal Matt Elven.
In the Junior/Senior High School principal’s report Elven noted course registrations for the upcoming school year were held on Feb. 1 and 2.
Wrestling and boys basketball senior nights were held.
A high school teacher in-service was held Feb. 14.
The annual 5th/6th grade basketball tournament was held Feb. 7-8. This benefits and was put on by the PHS track & field team. They had 16 local teams attending.
The Jr./Sr. High School Band planned to attend the U of I Jazz Festival on Feb. 21.
National FFA Week is Feb. 18-21.
First day of spring sports practice will be Feb. 28. Currently there are 43 boys and girls signed up for track & field, 14 for softball and 11 for baseball. The Jr. High Track start is to be determined.
They are planning a ski day at Cottonwood Butte on March 7 for Elementary and junior high students in grades 4-8.
BPA state conference is March 2-5 and HOSA State Leadership Conference is March 4-6. Both are in Boise.
Rehder reported the R3 assembly was held Feb. 7.
The school Spelling Bee was held Feb. 12 with Tate Uhlenkott taking first place and Darby Fitch second.
In the facilities report Rehder noted they had an underground pipe break at the high school on Jan. 27 outside the art room/weight room building. Rick Forsmann and Dave Shears dug it up and got it fixed. Forsmann said it had broken before and was spliced with PVC pipe. He will revisit this and fix it right in the spring.
Some of the pipes in the high school need to be updated. Forsmann plans to do this in phases. He will update some this summer and then another section each summer until the project is done.
As superintendent, Rehder reported on the Legislature Day on the Hill. The biggest concern is HB 93 which is a so-called school choice bill. It passed in the legislature and is at the Governor’s office at this time. Rehder said the numbers used for tax credits in the bill are actually more than what school districts receive. Our district receives just over $4800 per special education student where the bill says $5,000 for general education and $7,500 for special education in tax credits. Rehder said his biggest concern is that there is no accountability like public schools have for their funds.
Regarding an override levy. At this point Rehder feels they can get by with $175,000 like last year despite no knowing what will happen with the legislative session and what the district will receive.
The board adjourned to an executive session where they went through the principal evaluation and planned to revisit the superintendent evaluation.
The next regular meeting of the board is set for Monday, March 17 at 7 p.m.