| School
budget is approved
The budget for the 2008-09 school year was approved at the June meeting of the school board Monday, June 16. In other business Chris Kaschmitter of the Prairie Booster Club appeared before the board asking for permission to put a storage shed near the football field house that would be used to store the concession and barbecue equipment they use for football games. The idea also is that if the weather is bad they would be able to serve out of it. It would be built on skids but due to the size and the fact they would like to hook up electricity they would need a building permit and have already looked in that. Kaschmitter said they had received memorial funds in the names of Dan Kaschmitter and Clark Hinkelman to the club and were looking for something to do with that money. They would likely put up a plaque on the building memorializing them. Board chairman Roy Schumacher said he has no problem with it and the suggestion was to get together with high school principal Todd Shumway to determine the best location, noting it may need to be moved once the renovation plans get underway for the field complex. In regards to the field renovation, Shumway said he had talked to the National Guard unit commander and they are set to go June 1, 2009 unless they get called up to Iraq. The resignation of Bruce Nuxoll was approved. There was another teacher who had aid they were going to resign as they’ve taken another position but since there was no resignation letter submitted, no action was taken on that one at this time. Kyler Shumway was approved for hire for the summer maintenance position. He will work this summer and next year will start effective May 1. Extracurricular assignments were approved with only a few changes from last year. The junior and senior class advisor positions won’t be filled until school starts. Some athletic assistant positions won’t be filled unless there are enough players turned out. Assingments approved are: High School: Athletic Directors: Todd Shumway and Travis Mader; boys basketball: head coach Teel Bruner, J.V., Kevin Chaffee. Girls basketball head coach Steve Wilson, JV Dustin Behler. Football head coach Mader, assistants Ryan Hasselstrom and Ron Sigler (Teel Bruner is a volunteer assistant). Boys and girls track , Ryan Hasselstrom. Softball head coach Mader, assistant Wilson. Volleyball head coach Vikki Riener, JV-Marlene Forsmann, C-Denise Uhlenkott. Wrestling head coach Steve Lamont, assistant Dan Altman. Music, band and choir-John Eynon. Yearbook-Hasselstrom. Dance team and cheer squad-Natalie Wimer with Millie Wimer helping. Knowledge Bowl-Laurie Karel. Industrial Technology-Jerry Richardson. BPA-Hasselstrom. Prairie League-Cara Duman. Middle School: A.D.-Rene’ Forsmann. 8th grade girls basketball-Steve Wilson. 7th grade girls basketball-Dustin Behler. 8th grade boys basketball-Bryan Higgins. 7th grade boys basketball-Jeff Martin. Jr. High football-head coach Kenny Mader, assistant Paul Schmidt. Jr. High Knowledge Bowl-Becky Higgins. Jr. High track-head coach Becky Higgins, assistant Vikki Riener. Jr. High Volleyball-head coach Riener, assistant Marlene Forsmann. Jr. High Wrestling-Dan Altman. Music-Youth Choir-Laurie Karel. Drug Free coordinator-Colleen Sonnen. Technology coordinators-High School-Hasselstrom; Middle School-Forsmann; Elementary School-Greg Deiss. The board also approved the transfer of the forest funds to the plant facilities fund. In administrative reports Forsmann commented that the wellness competition went very well. If they can get funding for this next year she would like to do more with including the students. She reported that the 8th graders spent the entire day of June 5 at the high school, going through their actual schedule for next fall. Shumway reported that Jerry Richardson will be receiving grant sponsored training on Solid Works and will be participating in and Industrial/Technical careers training program this summer. He also reported on sports that volleyball camp is going on here, 19 football players attended an 8-man football camp at Montana Tech June 6-9 and that the open gym nights have been very well attended so far. He also reported on the 8th graders day at the high school reporting that not only did they follow their tentative schedules for next year but were allowed to participate in Prairie League, student council and drug free club meetings. He also presented some working proposals for district policy changes (see below) and would like to set up a workshop with the board members for theirs and possibly the community’s input. That workshop was set for Monday, June 30 at 6:30 p.m. probably in the Elementary School cafeteria. Superintendent/Elem. School Principal Gary Blaz gave an outline of things he’s working on which include summer projects, professional development planning, policy review and personnel contracts. The board adjourned at 8:30 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, July 21 at 7 p.m. This will also be the annual meeting. A policy workshop requested by Shumway will be Monday, June 30 at 6:30 p.m. Policy change proposals Prairie High School principal Todd Shumway asked the school board at their June meeting Monday, June 16 to set up a workshop for their input into the following District Policy changes he is proposing. A meeting was set for Monday, June 30 at 6:30 p.m., likely at the Elementary School cafeteria to discuss the proposals. This meeting will be open to the public and their input is invited. They are also planning to invite Cottonwood Police Chief Terry Cochran for his input and some background information on Proposal Three. Working Proposals for changes in District Policy: Board Policy Change Request for Attendance 1. Students and parents are notified by PHS in a form letter on their 5th and 9th absences. 2. Absences beyond the allowed 9 per semester would be made up at Saturday school sessions held at PHS at the end of each term or as needed. Absences that do not count against the allowed 9 are medical (as verified by a doctors note), mandatory court appearance (as verified by court clerk), and school activities. 3. Students would be required to pay $5 per class period needed for absence recovery. A full day would cost $35. This money will be used to compensate a supervisor for running the Saturday sessions. 4. Saturday school work will be provided by the regular course teachers and work time will be supervised by a teacher or administrator. 5. Tardy policy will also be changed to include wording that 4 tardies will be counted as one absence allowing for students to attend Saturday school instead of being suspended. 6. Students will also have the option of attending summer school in June to recover attendance days towards credit recovery at the same cost rate. Students and parents will be notified during the last week of the school year as to the number of days that will need to be made up to recover lost credits from excessive absences. 7. Student who chose to not attend either of these options after exceeding the allowed 9 days will automatically lose credit in the course(s) and will be required to make up the credit the following year. Failure Policy - Credit Recovery Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy |
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