At their February 3 regular meeting, the Houston School Board officially approved two buildings’ purchase prices. St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 202 Sheridan Street will be purchased for $200,000. Funding for this purchase will come from the school’s general funds.
The school has been granted lease levy authority for the sale of bonds to fund the purchase of the ABLE, Inc. building at 105 West Elm Street for $450,000. Once the buildings are purchased by the school, the maintenance of them will be able to be included in the long term facilities maintenance funding.
Superintendent Mary Morem, attending the meeting virtually, pointed out that the school has needed more space for quite some time. Currently, some classrooms at the high school have three teachers in them, rotating in and out of the rooms. In addition, the school has added some activities in recent years. Morem noted it was just coincidence that both buildings became available at the same time. While Morem and the board have ideas on uses for each of the buildings, a committee will be set up to make decisions on their uses by the district.
Mimi Carlson stressed the importance of communicating to the public about the intended uses and explaining why the board decided to purchase the buildings.
Hurricane Heroes — Triple A Winners
High school principal Michael Mangan presented the AAA (Academics, Arts, and Athletics Award) winners for Houston High School. The teachers are allowed to nominate one senior boy and one senior female who are active in the community and school with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 out higher and participate in at least one MSHL sponsored athletic program and one arts/activity program.
This year’s winners were Therese Jore and Caden Ness. Both students were lauded by the nominating teachers for their leadership skills and extensive involvement in both the school and community.
Principal reports
MNVA principal Angela Specketer reported that the addition of a half-time reading interventionist who focuses on students in grades K-1 has helped those students make an average of 27% increase in phonemic awareness.
MNVA is planning on expanding College in Schools offerings next year by adding some math classes.
Elementary principal Rick Bartz shared that the targeted after school services at the elementary have also had great results. The third graders have averaged almost double the expected improvement. The fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers are running a Homework Help program after school.
High school principal Mangan informed the board that HHS has advisories twice a week with Tuesday focusing on PBIS, social issues and resilience, and Thursday on career and college readiness. Spring conferences will showcase some of the students’ acquired skills.
With 57 out of 227 students needing support in behavior, math, and reading, the focus has been on additional support for students using the academic assistance program after school. Summit School reported the graduation of five students in the last month.
Application for solar panels
Morem shared with the board that she had completed an initial application for a grant for solar panels at both the high school and elementary school. Each building would have a 39.9 KWH system installed; these are projected to save the school between $5,000 and $6,000 for each building. Houston would only have to pay 5% of the installment cost. While exact costs are not yet determined since the company has not yet been chosen, each project won’t exceed $114,000.
The board directed Morem to complete the final, longer application. Maintenance of the units would need to be discussed with the company chosen for the installation.
Other business
Other business conducted by the board included:
• Approving the elementary school camera upgrade ($15,365) to match the security of the high school; all cameras at the schools will now be digital and both servers can be accessed as needed by administrators;
• Accepting donations from the American Legion ($100 for ECFE and $1,750 for HHS sports display case); AcenTek ($100 for ECFE elf store); Jonathan Huhn Golf Tournament ($720 for Houston FB);
• Directing Supt. Morem to get more bids on improving bathroom partitions at both schools;
• Clarifying school colors for sports uniforms; the colors remain red and white with silver to be used as an accent color only;
• Requesting Supt. Morem to check on both rates and term length of those rates from more banks in nearby towns before they choose a designated depository;
•Asking Anne Warner to send the proposed 2022-2023 school calendar to board members so they could review the details and get questions together before they approve the calendar at a future meeting.
The next board meeting will be March 3 at 6 p.m. in the high school media center and online on the school website. The public is welcome to attend.
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