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Board meets
The school board approved an advance to be paid back to get the bleacher proposal going at the January meeting Wednesday, Jan. 17. Ryan Hasselstrom said they estimate costs at about $31,000 if they build the proposed bleachers themselves as opposed to about $53,000 if bought commercially. He said they have about $8,000 from fundraisers leaving about $23,000 to go. He plans to talk to the Booster Club about donating and doing a grant application with the tribe. He has talked to Ryan Uhlenkott at Advanced Welding about the steel and also asked for a recommendation on an engineer. Uhlenkott suggested Thomas Holman of Spokane, formerly of Grangeville. Caleb McWilliams, Carson Schmidt and Spencer Schumacher are taking the bleacher project as their senior projects. He also said Valley Paving will be paid off this year on the track project leaving about $4,100 in that fund. He has ordered hurdles and it’s possible they could host a meet this spring. The 5th-6th grade basketball tournament will be a fundraiser for the track as well. Aaron Hinkelman made a motion to advance $22,500 from the MAFA fund to get the project going. 2nd by Pat Alfrey. Alfrey also asked if they could get regular updates. A new policy on school meal charges was approved. Rene’ Forsmann said legal counsel reviewed their policy and found it to be legal. So far there has been no real negative impact. There was some concern expressed whether a student might not get fed. It was voted to keep February meeting on the regular meeting date of the 19th but to push it back to 7 p.m. Patty Hinkelman has tendered her resignation effective the end of the school year. It was accepted by the board. In the facility report Forsmann said the abatement is done at the old Elementary School with the appraiser scheduled to be there Friday, Jan. 19. She said she asked for an estimate to demolish the building if it should come to that. She was told a minimum of $80,000. Once the get the appraisal they will look at options. The new key fob system is now nearly completely installed. Just some final items to finish up. It has been working great so far. The heating and air conditioning upgrade for the Jr./Sr. High building was discussed. Total cost estimate is about $318,000. She thought they could look at doing it about half one year and half the next. The board approved getting specifications for the project to be discussed at the next meeting. The first part to be done would include the junior high rooms on the lower level that don’t already have independent heat as well as the band room, cafeteria and some of the main level classrooms. They thought they would work their way from the bottom up since heat rises, with the boiler being cut off from those rooms once they are updated. In her principal’s report Forsmann said the 2018-19 Kindergarten looks to be a smaller group in the low to mid 20’s in number. 5th and 6th grades are 32 and 35 respectively so they will need 2 teachers for each grade. 2nd grade has 23 currently with a possible two student decrease. The hunter safety class was held Jan. 8-12 for 5th grade students and was a success. A ski day is being planned for Feb. 2 for grades 4-8, depending on snow. Vikki Riener is the recipient of a Stem Grant for a classroom FM system. In her superintendent’s report she said the new grant for the Center for Discovery was submitted this month. The current grant runs out in June. She signed on a letter to Congress to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program for at least two years. Not update on that yet. The Food Service is going through a series of audits. It came back with no corrective action needed. Lynn Rehder will be audited the last week of January, going through her food service budgets, the free and reduced application process and general food service operations. Jon Rehder reported they enrolled 4 new students right after Christmas break and had 4 more starting January 22, the start of the second semester. On Monday, January 22 there will be Spring Dual Credit registration for juniors and seniors. Also on the 22nd an ASVAB interpreter will be at the high school to go over results with the juniors who took that test last fall. On January 31 all 10th graders will be at LCSC for a campus tour. Mr. Hasselstrom will be visiting with the technology department about possible technology use in the building. He has purchased a 3D printer with his CTE funds for his classroom. He currently has a student working with the AutoCAD software and plans to have a few more during the second semester. They are looking into adding new elective offerings in technology for next year. Possible offerings include certification in PowerPoint Basic for the 8th grade, certification in Word and Excel Basic for the 9th grade, Expert and Mastery in Microsoft; Adobe Certification, AutoCad, Solid Works, Laser Engraving and Coding. On Feb. 10 the ACT will be offered at the high school. The board adjourned to an executive session for superintendent evaluation. The next regular meeting is set for Monday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Elementary School Computer Lab. |
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