At their regular monthly meeting April 20, the Rushford-Peterson School Board heard the plan for a new direction for Community Education. With a deficit of $78.047 for Community Education, which needed to be repaid to the general fund, it was time to make a change.
Superintendent Jon Thompson presented the plan to the board. Community Education will be integrated with the activities director duties. Current administrative assistant Holly Ekern will assist activities director John Loney with the summer Community Education duties. Loney will be the sole person in charge of oversight of the scheduling of building and grounds use. Loney will be relieved of his halftime teaching position to provide him time for the new duties.
The director hired for school age child care will also be responsible for public relations and serve as the homeless liaison.
Elementary principal, Angela Shepard will continue to provide oversight for the preschool program; Shepard formerly taught kindergarten. The preschool teacher will assist with the duties on Fridays.
Other assignment shifts include the current second grade going from three to two sections for next year. The spare teacher will move to SPED; a part-time SPED teacher who had been hired last February will not return.
The retiring head custodian will be replaced by an existing custodian at the building.
This plan is anticipated to save the district $66,282 with $11,985 benefiting Community Education.
Parent Danielle Rasmussen voiced her concern about the plan. Feeling that Loney and Ekern already had a lot on their plates, she was concerned that parent communication would become even worse. When she had attempted to get sports schedules ahead of time so she could adjust her work schedule to attend her children’s events, she hadn’t gotten a response.
Rasmussen felt the proceeds from tournaments should go into Community Education funds with the school monitoring the funds.
Thompson responded that Loney would have more time for his duties since he would no longer have a teaching assignment. He assured Rasmussen that changes had been made in recent years and that every penny coming in is now accounted for.
School lunches update
Thompson shared a recent lunch survey of 289 students grades 6-12. He noted the previous survey had been conducted in a single class. Mrs. Blum plans on adding some of the suggested items requested and has added a chef salad option as well as a Trojan pack which includes a PBJ sandwich, string cheese, fruit, and vegetable.
In response to last month’s citizen concerns about “moldy cheese,” Thompson shared that the cheese was actually freezer burned and had salts leaching out as a result. The cheese was removed from the kitchen. Thompson informed the board that the food service budget covered all the expenses of food, styrofoam containers, and maintenance. He noted that the food service fund was in “solid financial standing.” In answer to another question, Thompson said that 15 students were participating in the school’s back pack program.
Student Linsey Meyer suggested during the public comment period that the staff take a count for the sandwich option at the start of the day to get an idea of how many to make. She also asked if the chef salad and sandwich option would be extended to middle school students.
Board member Ken Sawle visited the kitchen to work with the staff. He informed the board that the staff “works their butts off! We need to support them.”
Thompson noted that support comes from suggestions as well and that Mrs. Blum “took the suggestions and ran with them!”
2022 Graduation
The board approved the R-P graduates for 2022. The 44 graduates will graduate on May 29 at 1:30 p.m. in the high school gym.
An interesting class motto was chosen: “High school was easy. It was like riding a bike. Except the bike was on fire and the ground was on fire.”
Other business
In other business the board:
•Approved the custodian contract 2022-2024 settlement;
•Accepted the resignation of Sarah Hundorf, district office administrative assistant;
•Approved the hiring of Patricia McAllister as long term third grade substitute teacher for September 7–October 19, 2022;
•Tabled acceptance of the superintendent contract with Benjamin Bernard until the next meeting; a few minor details and not been completed on the contract. Bernard will officially be hired at the next meeting.
The next meeting of the R-P School Board will be May 16, at 6 p.m. in the forum room of the high school. The public is welcome to attend.
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