| School
Board meets
The school board held their January meeting last Wednesday, Jan. 22. Re-elected board members Gus Hoene and Tara Klapprich were given the Trustee Oath of Office. It was moved by Hoene and seconded by Klapprich to nominate the same slate of officers as last year. Nominations were closed and a motion made to approve the slate of nominees was passed unanimously. Aaron Hinkelman will continue as board chairman with Pat Alfrey as vice-chairman. Denise Uhlenkott will be the clerk/treasurer and Cheri Holthaus and Lynn Rehder will be assistant treasurers. Meeting dates and times will continue to be the third Monday except all meetings will now start at 7 p.m. The board chairman, vice chairman and clerk/treasurer were approved as check signers will at least two signing all checks. Meeting posting sites were approved as the Elementary School and at each Cottonwood branch of the Cottonwood Credit Union. A motion was made and passed for Rene’ Forsmann to be the Civil Rights Officer. Each board member was then given a code of ethics to read and sign. They were then turned over to the clerk. The emergency school closure of January 12, 2020 was approved by the board. In the facilities report, Superintendent Rene’ Forsmann went through the heating bill comparisons for the high school to show the difference since the heating system has been finished. They showed a little over $400 in savings, or about 6% savings for the December 2019 billings and about $2,200 in savings or 29% for the January 2020 billings. The bill from Avista was up but they didn’t have the cost of the pellets to deal with. Jon Rehder mentioned there is an area where the pellets were put into the system that needs to be covered up for safety reasons. In addition to the items that carried over from last months report, Rehder said he is looking at redoing the tiles in most of the restrooms at the high school. In the administrative reports Forsmann reported the Elementary staff is reading a book called Attitude is a Choice.” They have been meeting and talking about how it relates. It is a nice addition to the PBIS program. Jan. 24 is the end of the semester. They held an attendance assembly on that date as well. Also on Jan. 24, Liz McLeod and her HOSA students shared science material with the students at the Elementary. Ski Day at Cottonwood Butte is set for January 31 for grades 4-8. Michelle Bledsoe was awarded a $5,259.28 State Department grant through the Idaho Disabilities Education Act. The money will be used to purchase materials for students preschool through 6th grade. The Spring concert will be May 21 at 1 p.m. Special Education teacher Michelle Bledsoe will be moving to the Kindergarten position so they will advertise for a Special Education instructor. Grade level teachers for next year are: Kindergarten-Michelle Bledose 1st grade-Rachel Hernandez and Ashle’ Sowa 2nd grade-Allason Zenner and Julie Schumacher 3rd grade-Sherry Gehring and Vikki Riener 4th grade-Becky Higgins and Andrea Brannan 5th grade-Kristi Brugeman 6th grade-Colleen Sonnen and Kim Schumacher. Forsmann noted in her superintendent’s report that the Secure Rural Schools bill has been attached to the energy bill for a 2 year extension. She is assuming dollar amounts will be about the same as last year. The PBIS team attended a training in Boise on Jan. 14. She and Rehder attended a CTE Symposium on Jan. 6-7 in Boise. The Day on the Hill is Feb. 17-18 Rehder reported that an Epson S40600 Printer has been purchased for the high school tech program. This would be able to print banners, decals, vinyl prints, etc. The former Gear-up room has been converted to a computer lab with 6 prints and a printer from Shane Chapman’s room that can print photo paper. They received a $7,000 Perkins grant that along with tech money and added-cost from Mr. Hasselstrom and Mr. Martin they were able to use to buy the new printer. A new speaker is being added for the football field/track. It is Bluetooth capable and has a wireless microphone. It should be much easier to hear the announcing during games and track meets. Senior projects went well on Dec. 18. The final senior project presentation day is April 8. The ACT is scheduled for Feb. 8 at the high school cafeteria. The speakers who came to the high school Dec. 19 did and phenomenal job sharing their stories with the students. Jr. High volleyball started Jan. 8. The board adjourned to an executive session for the superintendent evaluation. When they reconvened Hinkelman appointed Hoene and Alfrey to put together a form for each board member that could be used each meeting to help with evaluations. It was then moved and approved to continue with Forsmann’s current contract. The meeting adjourned at 6:43 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. |
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