| School
Board meets
The proposed school calendar for 2015-16 got lengthy discussion at the January meeting of the school board Monday, Jan. 18. The proposed school calendar had school starting on Thursday, August 25 and that apparently was the bone of contention for a couple of board members and several parents. Those with children in 4-H in particular would like to see an entire week off after the Fair and have school start Monday, August 29 instead. Superintendent Rene’ Forsmann said to take out August 25-26 they would likely add them back on at the end and school would end Friday, June 2 instead of Wednesday, May 31. Glenn Poxleitner was present to share concerns of those parents who wanted the full week off after the Fair. Board chairman Gus Hoene talked at length about the duties of board trustees is to all their constituents and not just the vocal few and that their primary duty is to hire a good superintendent and give due consideration to said superintendent’s recommendations. When a vote was called on the motion made to approve the calendar, Aaron Hinkelman and Hoene voted for the calendar and Tara Rowland and Tara Klapprich voted against. Board member Pat Alfrey was absent. With no majority the motion failed. In other business, the board was holding their meeting in the ag shop at the high school and Don Curry went over the ag program and Future Farmers of America (FFA) program with the board. Due to the need to set a date to approve bids on the bus barn, Forsmann set the date and time for the February meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 15. Carrie Nygaard went through some changes in curriculum for the junior/senior high school for next year. They are working with LCSC to offer dual credit calculus. Travis Mader will be teaching a sports history course which will be taught in alternate years with his criminal justice course. For juniors the personal finance and career courses will be merged into a single one-semester course with health taught the other semester. Sophomores will all take the Microsoft IT Academy, which will be a one-semester course with health taught the other semester. 8th graders will take a semester of Spanish with PE offered the other semester. 7th graders will take a semester of creative writing with PE the other semester. Both 7th and 8th grader students will have an opportunity to take a semester of agricultural education or art, or a year of band. Day on the Hill was discussed. Hoene won a free pass for this at the school board association meeting. It will be Feb. 16th and 17th. Anyone interested in going should contact Denise Uhlenkott. In the facilities update Forsmann reported the shop/bus barn has gone to bid with opening set for Feb. 11 at Rhonda Wemhoff’s office. Wemhoff will then make sure each bid meets the specifications and the board will review the bids at the February meeting. After the meeting the board was to tour the ag shop to see the updates Curry has made and also visit the high school office to see what the proposed changes are there. In administrative reports Forsmann reported she will be sending out the parent survey this week. They have finished winter testing at the Elementary School. Both the Elks and KC hoop shoots were held. The elementary school had a ski day Friday, Jan. 15 and it went very well. Hunter safety class is coming up Jan. 25-29. Nygaard reported there will be a Chemistry Show at the high school Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m. The financial aid night was a success with a high percentage of the senior class represented. Jermaine Galloway was to do a presentation to students Tuesday morning from 10-11 a.m. and then another presentation for the community that evening at the Community Hall. On January 21, LCSC will have a representative on campus to hold a dual credit meeting. Many students will sigh up for dual credits at that time. Ryan Hasselstrom is organizing the state BPA contest set for Friday, Jan. 22 at LCSC. More than 400 students statewide are expected to attend. On Jan. 26th the High School Drug Free group will draw the winners in their prize drawing while the senior class will draw winners for theirs on Feb. 2 at the boys game. District tournaments are coming up and she shared the brackets with the board. The board adjourned to an executive session for superintendent evaluation at 8:27 p.m. After their executive session the board re-convened and felt it best to get a calendar approved. They amended the agenda to add reconsideration of the calendar. They approved it with a couple of changes. School will start Monday, August 29 and the last day will be Friday, June 2. Those are basically the only changes from the originally proposed calendar. The next meeting will be Monday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. |
 |