The Paton-Churdan board of education is moving forward with a facility assessment study. At its Jan. 12 regular meeting the board approved hiring StruXture Architects of Waterloo to do a facility study at a cost of $5,500 plus mileage.
The board expects to learn if all space in the building is now used with greatest efficiency, and also what future options might be to add space. “It’s good to find out what we can do if we have do something,” superintendent Kreg Lensch said.
There is no plan at this time to do a building project. StruXture Architects is doing only the study at this time, and the board is not obligated to use that company should a building project be done in the future.
The meeting began with Denise Best taking the oath of office of board secretary. Paton-Churdan is sharing her contract as school business manager with Glidden-Ralston on a 40-60 split. Lensch said the G-R board requested that the sharing agreement be in place only till the end of the fiscal year so that the split of time can be re-evaluated. Mitch Lewis resigned from the fulltime position of P-C business manager last month.
The board heard an initial proposal from the Paton-Churdan Education Association for the 2017-18 contract. The proposal does little with base pay but adds money to the pay scale steps. The total proposal is an increase of 4.4 percent. The board held a closed session after the meeting to discuss its counter proposal.
The board also heard a presentation from Dennis Hendricks about the Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) project. Principal Annie Smith said she is looking into initiating the program.
The board approved the first reading of new policies for employee use of cellular phones and use of technology and social networking. The policy regarding use of technology specified that all information on the school’s computer system is considered a public record. The school does not guarantee privacy for emails or use of the school’s computer network, including websites visited. Additionally, the policy requires approval from the superintendent to post information, including student photos, on social media. The superintendent must also approve employees communicating with students via social media.
In her report, Smith noted that the Snowcoming, planned for the last week in January, will celebrate the 1966-67 girls basketball team’s state tournament appearance. All members of that team have been invited to attend.
Lensch reported Paton-Churdan will receive $24,153 from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation. The board did not discuss the intended use of that money. He also alerted the board that the school calendar calls for classes on Good Friday, contrary to customary practice. He asked the board to be ready to decide in February if P-C will take the day off even though Greene County will have school that day.
