On April 16, Kingsland Superintendent James Hecimovich asked the school board to consider his idea of turning the field at the former Wykoff school into a “native grass prairie land area” that Kingsland students could use for educational purposes. He explained he is referring to “the ballpark and the little park next to it, the old track field.” No action was taken at this time, but Hecimovich said he would discuss the idea with Wykoff City Council member Richard Gleason, and will bring back information to the board at the next work session. All board members were present (Doug Plaehn, Ann Oeltjen, Leah Stier, Jackie Horsman, Tiffany Mundfrom, Heather Betts, and Superintendent James Hecimovich).
Hecimovich gave public thanks to donors and volunteers, including to Community Ed Soccer Coaches (Jen Ferguson, Brynjil Hyde, Jared Hagstrom, Kyle Rader, Liz Newberg, Matt Jordan, Kelly Opseth, Karen Stephans, Shaun and Sheila Knode, Ross Musel, Mike Rainey, Trevin Rath, Cody Stuart, Noah Williams, Shane Mensink, and Santi Drees), and to Anne Jo Voorhees for supervising the Kids Night Out field trip to Sherlock Gnomes, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church for a piano donated to the music department, Deer Creek Long Spurs Chapter National Wild Turkey Foundation for $500 and $250 donations to the Trap Team, Daniel Hellerud for $100 donation to the Trap Team, and to Mari Blanchard for chaperoning the art club trip to Minneapolis, and to bus driver Mike Blanchard for driving on that trip.
The board also approved the consent agenda items, including hires and a leave of absence, after Ann Oeltjen asked to have one item opened for further discussion. She said that regarding the administration’s recommendation to hire Steve Hauser as varsity girls basketball coach, “I guess I wanted to bring it up again that I felt the panel was not objective enough and that it should go back for a new panel for interviews… There was students on the panel and also what I would consider a subordinate of one of the people that were interviewed.” The board discussed the issue, and Doug Plaehn stated, “We have a recommendation from our administration that we need to act on, approve it or not approve it.” Oeltjen made a motion to not approve the recommendation and to repost the position, but there was no second to the motion. The board then voted to approve the recommendation to hire Hauser (Oeltjen voted against). Jackie Horsman said she feels the panel interview process needs to be re-evaluated, so that concerns such as Oeltjen’s will not occur in the future.
No members of the public addressed the board on any issues. The board heard an update on FFA happenings and upcoming events from student Cody Merkel. The board approved tenure for three staff members as submitted.
The meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m. The board will have a work session meeting on May 7 at 6 p.m. in the elementary conference room. The next regular board meeting will be Monday, May 21, at 6:30 p.m. in the choir room. As always, the public is welcome. It was also noted that the school referendum special election will be May 8. The board will meet to canvas the election results on May 10 at 5:45 p.m. in the elementary conference room.