| School
Board meets
Tara Rowland was approved by the school board as the replacement trustee for Lynn Guyer, who had resigned from his zone 2 position, at the April meeting of the school board Monday, April 20. Gus Hoene and Tara Klapprich were declared as elected to new 4 year terms as they were unopposed. Recommended for hire was Brandy Fiorenza as the new band instructor. She is a PHS graduate and the daughter of Mike and Roz Long. Also recommended for hire were Julie Schumacher and Tim Sheffler as girls basketball coaches. High School principal Carrie Nygaard said they both applied for the JV position and it was a very tough call to pick between them. Head coach Lori Mader offered to put her head coach salary in with the JV and split it 3 ways. Schumacher has had previous coaching experience at Summit as well as Prairie. Sheffler is a former college basketball player who is great knowledge of the game. He is married to PHS grad Jamie Chicane. Several resignations were also accepted. Travis Mader has resigned as athletic director, Sherry Holthaus as cheer coach, Colleen Sonnen as Kindness Rocks/Drug Free coordinator and Sally Duman as janitor. Teacher contracts were approved pending approval of the override levy. A budget hearing date was set for Monday, June 15 at 7 p.m. This coincides with the regular June meeting. Bids will be let out to fix the roof at the Junior/Senior high school over the cafeteria and band room with an eye towards getting the project done this summer. To that end a special meeting was set for May 4 at 7 p.m. to open bids. Jake Forsmann received estimates ranging up to $77,000 for the repair. Anything over $25,000 has to go through the bidding process. Forsmann also talked about a 3-phase approach to some heating problems at the high school. Phase 1 would be fixing the ag shop heating. Currently it is connected to the central boiler and just does not work very well. Forsmann proposes a separate unit with thermostat controls in each of the 3 rooms. He has been quoted $23,000 by Ducts Unlimited of Cottonwood. He feels this is the top priority and needs to be done as soon as possible. A second phase set for next year would be to put a large unit on the gym. Estimates for this are right at $25,000. A third phase would be to run duct work from the gym unit down to the locker rooms. Estimates run about $10,000. Helping to fund these projects is the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools money from the federal government. Rene’ Forsmann doesn’t yet know what they would be getting but it is supposed to be authorized for two years at the levels of a few years ago. Without that reauthorization they would have received just $16,000 in federal forest monies. With it they are looking at likely over $300,000 more. Rene’ Forsmann talked about the BLM rental of space in the corner of the football field complex. They are looking at 13 months for $500 per month. The BLM has already leveled and graveled they area they would be using. It was discussed to take that money and use it toward leveling out the rest of the visitor side parking area and the grassy areas to make mowing better. In administrative reports Nygaard said there will be a change in the driver’s ed requirements to align with IHSAA regulations. A grade/performance component would be added. She informed the board that Todd Nygaard is looking at adding a trap shooting unit to his P.E. class. He successfully ran something similar when he was at Kamiah. Cottonwood Gun Club members have offered to help and would loan guns to those that don’t have them. Prom is set for this coming Saturday. The 7th graders will have a ‘Trip to Somewhere” next Tuesday, April 28 from 6:30 to 7:30. They research and write about other countries and will have a display of culture, food and other items that evening in the gym. The FFA banquet is set for Wednesday, April 29 at the Community Hall for $10 per person. Invitations have been sent out and they ask for RSVP if you would like to attend. Ryan Hasselstrom had Dean Roy from Edward Jones investing as a guest speaker for his business and careers classes April 15. The presentation centered on investments and making wise choices. Drama performances are set for Wednesday, May 6 and Saturday, May 9. More details to come. The Junior/Senior High Spring Concert is set for Tuesday, May 12 at 7 p.m. Several field trips are coming up in May for mostly the 8th graders. Testing is currently going on at the school. The local EMT’s will be using the school for a testing/training day Saturday, May 16. Rene’ Forsmann reported they had great turnout for parent-teacher conferences at the Elementary School. Several of the staff presented at the Title I conference at Boise. Kindergarten Screening was held and it appears there will be 22-24 students next year. This is kind of an awkward number to work with financially as it takes 40 to get paid for a full-time teacher but Forsmann said she will work something out. The Lions Club Sight and Hearing trailer was here April 14 with K-6 students screened. In her superintendent’s report Forsmann said she signed an agreement wit First Step Internet for one year’s service. For $1000 per month they get more bandwidth than they were getting from the state provider. It’s wireless instead of fiber optic cable but it is only one-eighth the cost. Either way the state reimburses the district but she said as a taxpayer it makes way too much sense to get greater capability for a much lower price. The board meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. The next regular meeting is Monday, May 18 at 7 p.m. with a special meeting set for Monday, May 4 at 7 p.m. |
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