| $350,000
levy sought
The school board passed a resolution to seek a $350,000 override levy again this year at the regular March meeting Monday, March 21. This is the same amount as last year and was again reduced by $37,000 contributed from the sale of the former K-1 building. This was the third and final installment. Superintendent Rene’ Forsmann said this is needed to keep “basically operation as usual.” Yes the state is providing more money this year but they are looking at an insurance increase. They don’t know exactly what that will be but they are estimating 10-12%. The levy election will be held May 17, which is also the date of the primary election in Idaho. The budget hearing date was set. That will be Monday, June 20 at 7:30 p.m. In other business several resignations were accepted as well as a couple of new hires. Sheri Daly’s resigned as school nurse apparently due to her increasing duties with the classes she teaches not just for Prairie but through distance learning to other districts in the state. Also Jennifer Heitman resigned as junior high paraprofessional aide. She will continue with the drug free program though. Taylor Schaeffer was hired to fill the position. Isaiah Shears also resigned form the summer maintenance help position. Also recommended for hire was Della Gehring to replace Millie Wimer as Library Aide. In the facilities update Forsmann said work on the bus barn should start around April 1 with a August 31 finish date. The high school office renovation will be done over Spring Break with new cabinets to go in early June. The high school entry doors and old elementary gym outside doors will be getting a new coat of paint. The Elementary handrails in the gym and the stairway will be redone to replace the metal wit rounded corners. This is a safety issue. Also they are looking at replacing the flooring on the first set of steps at the Elementary School. Facilities updates are funded mostly by the so-called forest funds or Craig-Wyden funds, which are looked at as “soft” money, as in money that may not be renewed. At this point there is no money promised from this for next year. In administrative reports Carrie Nygaard reported the art class made a field trip to the U of I and did self-portraits with two students earning honorable mentions. There were 35 schools attending. A dual credit calculus class has been added for next year by LCSC. Darbie Duclos will teach the class. LCSC says she is the best they work with. The Youth Conservation Corps visited March 18 to visit with students about prospective summer employment. The Mother-Daughter Tea was held this past Sunday. Showcase Night is Wednesday, March 23. Higher Ed Day will be held at Prairie on Thursday, March 24. 8 college representatives will be on campus to visit with not only Prairie juniors but other area schools will be coming as well. The SAT will be held at PHS on April 12. FFA will have 13 students traveling to Twin Falls for the annual FFA state meeting April 5-10. State BPA students competed this past weekend. Abbie Uhlenkott took 1st in Payroll Accounting and will be traveling to Boston for the national competition. Anthony Karel placed 8th in Banking and Finance. Forsmann shared results of the Elementary parent survey. They got responses from 54 parents. Elementary concerts will be May 18. They are trying something different with Pre-K and K-4 at 1:30 p.m. and the 5th and 6th grade band and the Choir at 7 p.m. that evening. She reported she is working on the elementary schedule and student placement for next year. There will be two fourth grade classes with Becky Higgins and Kristi Bruegeman as the teachers. Forsmann said she will be the instructor for an IDLA keyboarding course. She also reported that Missoula Children’s Theatre went very well. They had about 90 youngsters try out, the most ever. The MCT actors also said this was one of their best ever performances and they asked to record it. As superintendent Forsmann shared that Section 2000 of the policy manual has been updated. Nygaard, Forsmann and Denise Uhlenkott have all gone through it and are asking for board input. She also reported the Elementary will be training on the new math and language arts curricula. The math curriculum is an elementary version of that used at the high school. New textbooks will be needed, which is part of the override levy. There was discussion about changing the date for the May board meeting as the FFA dinner asked to be set on Monday, May 16. They are looking at moving the May meeting to Tuesday, May 17 but that will be decided at the April meeting. The meeting adjourned at 6:25 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, April 18 at 5:30 p.m. |
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