At the March 13 Chatfield School board meeting, all board members were present except Scott Backer. Present were Superintendent Ed Harris, Administrative Assistant Lorri Lowery, Business Manager Karyl Lyons, and Principals Shane McBroom and Randy Paulson.
Lee Becker, middle school social studies teacher, gave a presentation on the new Flex schedule for the middle school. Seventh grade students have all core classes in the morning and eighth graders have core classes in the afternoon. The schedule may vary from day to day according to what the needs of each classroom are. The middle school team meets three to four times a week to decide on the weekly schedule. The advantages of the Flex schedule is the quality of class time. Periods can be lengthened or shortened according to the type of activity or to accommodate other school activities. Presentations or testing can be given to an entire group at one time. It also saves money as a substitute is not needed if one teacher is gone. The remaining teachers can absorb the classes internally. The team is very happy with this program and are looking at ways to continue to enhance the student experience.
LuAnn Kleven, community education director, reported that Valleyland will be located at the elementary this summer and that transportation to the pool and summer recreation programs will be provided. Hour fees and registration fees will increase at the beginning of the summer to the meet the increase in minimum wage and transportation costs. Preschool registration information is now available for the next school year. Upcoming opportunities for parents is the Love and Logic for Parents seminar, and an Internet Safety class on Wednesday, April 17. A six-week Love and Logic for Parents class begins on April 2. Watch for information distributed through the elementary school and on the school Facebook page. The summer recreation program is almost finalized and will be available the first week in April. Check the Community Education page on the school website for information.
Shane McBroom, elementary principal, reported that he and some staff members had made visits to several schools to learn more about personalized learning. What they found was that they are doing a lot of the same things already but also learned some new ideas to incorporate into their curriculum. He congratulated the Academic Triathlon team who is going to state and the Project Genius boys who are sponsoring a 3-on-3 basketball tournament as a fundraiser for two children with cancer in our community. They have 51 teams registered.
Randy Paulson, high school principal, congratulated the individual wrestlers who competed at the state level. Cael Bartels placed fifth and Seth Goetzinger was a participant. One of the Knowledge Bowl teams will be going to state and The Rube Goldberg team won third at regionals and will be going to the national contest in April.
Superintendent Harris has discussed with board members and staff the fact that there will be approximately $400,000 in deficit spending this year, so the school district is looking to reduce expenses by that amount. This was not unforeseen but has come on more quickly than expected because enrollment has been flat and the state’s share given to schools is based on enrollment plus the state’s contribution is only a modest increase. Harris also pointed out that the high school building project is a separate fund from the general fund and that this project came in on budget so this has not led to the deficit. The board will continue to work on resolving the deficit and getting community input.
In the consent agenda the board approved a memorandum of understanding with Kristy Cook, maternity leave for Lindsey Olson, and an Art Club, Eagle Bluff and Washington, D.C. trip. Zach Slowiak was a new hire for History Day advisor and junior high baseball coach. Resignations were accepted from varsity dance coach, Danielle Hampel; business manager, Karyl Lyon; sixth grade teacher, Kathy Hanson; eighth grade volleyball coach, Nikki Ostby; high school administrative assistant, Sharon Manahan; 0.5 junior high girls basketball coach, Katie Goldsmith; and ALP teacher, Dave Hinck. Job postings were approved for varsity dance coach, eighth grade volleyball coach and high school administrative assistant. Two special board meeting working session minutes were approved, along with varsity coaches Jeff Johnson, football and Taylor Salisbury, volleyball.
Under action items, F. Mike Tuohy accepted the oath of office as board director from March 13, 2019, to December 31, 2019. The Achievement and Integrations Budget as presented by principal Paulson was approved. Lastly, the transportation contract was approved for Bernard Bus. They were the only company who applied. There has been no increase from the 2016-2019 contracts and the increase for the 2019-20 contract will be 4%, and 3% in 2020-2021.
The next board meeting will be April 3.
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