At the February 26 school board meeting, High School Principal Heath Olstad updated the Fillmore Central School Board on how the newly implemented Flex Learning Days have been going. He noted that things got off to a rough start as the first time students had a Flex Learning Day, they ended up with four in a row thanks to bad weather. After that first block of time, feedback from teachers and students was collected, and revisions were made that have been implemented in the Flex Learning Days held since then. “Overall, I would say it’s been a great decision by the board and the district to move to them (Flex Learning Days),” Principal Olstad said. “The teachers have done a great job working with the students.”
Dean of Students Chris Mensink reported the results for the label race, noting that this is the last year that the Milk Moola program will be active, which means that the students will only be collecting Box Tops for Education next year. The sixth grade class came in first with 9,790 labels turned in, third grade in second with 9,029 labels, and kindergarten in third with 8,954 labels. “Thank you to everyone for collecting,” Mensink said. “It does provide quite a bit of funding.”
Congratulations were extended to the One Act Play members who were conference champions, took second at Sub Section, and fourth at Sections.
The spring sports will be beginning soon. There are still several openings for softball coaches.
A resignation was approved for SADD advisor Melissa Heron, and Amanda Thomas was hired to fill the position. Diane Strahl was hired to work in the daycare. Maternity leaves were approved for teachers Kelsey Woellert and Megan Brown. A family medical leave for Traci Assmus, and a military leave for Brandi Mayer were both approved. A Memorandum of Understanding was reviewed and approved for an assistant speech coach as there are over 20 students competing this year. David Broadwater was approved as the assistant baseball coach, Don Schoepski as the junior high baseball coach, Jordan O’Connor as the softball volunteer, Andy Todd as the junior high golf coach, Dylan Isola as the assistant speech coach, and Matt Patterson as the assistant musical director.
The board reviewed the proposed 2019-2020 school calendar. Committee member and teacher Jeanette Burns requested that the board consider removing the half day of school scheduled on Monday, December 23 and dismissing for winter break on Friday, December 20 instead. The board tabled the matter until the March meeting when an updated proposed calendar will be submitted by the committee.
Special Education Director Micki Breitsprecher has been working with the staff of the preschool to submit a grant that will allow the preschool and special education programs to implement the Pyramid Model which focuses on social-emotional development in young children. The goal would be to include the daycare and kindergarten in the program by year three or four of use. The board approved the grant application.
An interstate enrollment request from Decorah was approved. A school-to-school agreement with the Decorah district will be available for review and approval at the March school board meeting.
The board approved Extended School Year services or ESY for two weeks in August. Joe Rye was approved as the ESY teacher and Connie Berg as the Early Childhood Special Education ESY teacher.
A renewal with Frontline Education was approved for the district’s absence and substitute management system.
The next Fillmore Central School Board meeting will be held on March 26 at 7 p.m. in Harmony. A joint meeting with the Harmony City Council and the Harmony EDA will be held on March 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the Harmony Community Center.
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