| Override
levy again at $350,000
The school adopted a resolution to seek a $350,000 override levy again this year at the March meeting Monday, March 20. The amount is the same as last year. The board also approved fronting money to get the track project finished providing the money gets paid back from continued fundraising and half the proceeds from any track meets run at the facility. This would enable getting the rubberized surface and striping done by mid-July of this year and allow them to use it for next year’s track season. It would also be available for public use the rest of the summer. Ryan Hasselstrom, Prairie track coach, reported they have already done the long jump and triple jump pits and continued fundraising would be done to get equipment such as hurdles and high jump pads and standards. Pole vault equipment would likely be put off for awhile as that costs nearly as much itself as the rest of the equipment needed to run a meet. He reported they have raised $113,000 of the estimated $200,000 project to date with another $10,000 commitment coming. He said they will also run a fundraiser similar to last summer that is expected to raise another several thousand dollars. Superintendent Rene’ Forsmann cited the momentum this project had from community support and the fact the district had funds available in the maintenance account from past secure rural schools funding. Hasselstrom also did a presentation on the Microsoft certification classes at the high school. He had 35 sophomores in his class and 33 have received Word certification with 11 of those also receiving PowerPoint certification and 4 receiving Excel certification. He said he and Jeff Martin will be attending a training in Boise for Adobe certification and hopes to offer a class on that next year. What does this achieve for the students? It looks very good on a resume when you are job seeking to say you are proficient in these software programs. Hasselstrom also reported they had flooding in the football fieldhouse. He and Jake Forsmann are working to come up with a solution once they figure out exactly how the runoff water is getting in. Forsmann went over a list of summer projects in her facilities report and had included $50,000 for the track project in that. Estimated costs for the summer projects total just over $145,000. Projects include remodel of kitchen cabinets at high school, est. $6,000; Safety fencing at baseball field, $3,000; updating restrooms at football field with water issues added, $11,000; Overflow building on cement foundation that used to be Jake’s shop, $32,000; Insurance issues due to weather, gutters, $1,000; heating system at high school gym, $32,677+electric work; adding a cabinet and cubbies to current art room which will be a classroom next year, $4,000. In other business Merannda Chaffee was approved as the new elementary school custodian. She had been doing it on a trial basis and Forsmann recommended hiring her. Forsman said they have interviewed applicants for the jr./sr. high principal but are not yet ready to recommend anyone. Section 6 of the policy manual was approved. They will review section 7 next which deals with finances. A request from the crosscountry team for use of a bus was approved. Coach Glenn Poxleitner is in the process of getting certified as a driver and would do the driving. A resolution was adopted to hold a trustee election for zones 1, 2 and 5 on May 16 concurrent with the levy election. Those up for election would be Aaron Hinkelman, Tara Rowland and Pat Alfrey. Declarations of candidacy needed to be filed by March 17. To run as a write-in you need to file by 5 p.m. April 1. If there is only one announced candidate and no one files to run as a write-in, there would be no election held for that zone. The community meetings held last week on the old Elementary School were discussed. Several ideas were tossed out at those meetings and Christine Frei of CEDA will be doing a feasibility study on them. The EPA and Idaho Division of Environmental Quality helped put on the meetings with help from a consulting group. In administrative reports Forsmann said Selena Davila’s Be-You-tiful camp was held at the elementary school and went well. Teachers are busy preparing for ISAT tests. The Missoula Children’s Theatre practiced all last week and had 2 performances on Friday. K-6 students attended the matinee. Carrie Nygaard recommended assessing a $25 activity fee for junior high sports. This would be a once per year fee to help offset the cost of uniforms and equipment for their programs. She reported the junior-senior banquet was held on Saturday and the Mother-Daughter Tea is set for this coming Sunday. A showcase night will be held March 29 at the jr./sr. high. Parent-teacher conferences will be held March 28-29. The FFA banquet was a success although numbers attending appeared down due to some other activities going on that evening. April 11 will be the SAT date for juniors. Shane Chapman learned his art history class will also be offered as a dual credit class. The budget heading date was set for Monday, June 19 at 7 p.m. and will be just prior to the regular meeting. The meeting adjourned to an executive session at 9:03 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, April 17. |
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