Greene County building trades instructor Kirk Davis shared with the school board some bad news and some good news about plans for the storage shed the class will build on school grounds at the board’s regular meeting Sept. 21.
The bad news is that after getting some expert advice regarding soil types and drainage from Wade Weiss and Tanner Stauffer of the county secondary roads department, the shed will be located south of its original location and set back further than planned, requiring more concrete than planned in the original price estimate for the project.
The good news is price estimates for needed materials from Tri-County Lumber were less than the preliminary costs Davis presented in August. Davis had only a short time to come up with cost estimates then and had used prices easily available from the Menard’s website. School board member John McConnell suggested that including Menard’s 11 percent rebate, the Menard’s cost would be much lower than local prices.
In September, Davis said the price quote from Tri-County, “apples to apples,” was about $4,000 lower than Menard’s price. “Price wise, we’re setting pretty good there,” Davis said.
The students will complete a 30’ X 108’ storage building on the high school grounds at a cost not to exceed $250,000.
Initial dirt work was done earlier during the week. Davis said students measured for the placement of piers on Wednesday and he anticipated the holes for the piers would be augered Thursday. “We’ve had some good experiences with the students already and I’m really excited about where we’re at,” he said.
The board approved the first reading of revisions to two board policies.
The first is Board Policy 905.1, dealing the community use of school district buildings, sites and equipment. The revision incorporates verbiage that custodians may not be in the building during facility usage, and that groups using the facility will be required to do their own cleaning. “We need to reduce that guarantee that we would provide a custodian to anybody who wants to use the facility,” Abbots said, adding that there’s been a position open for an evening custodian for several months.
The second is Board Policy 505.5, dealing with graduation requirements for special education students. The revision states that for students receiving modified assessments, graduation requirements will be set within the Individualized Education Program (IEP) by the team developing the plan.
Abbots recommended a change in the home school assistance program, assigning district curriculum director Karen Sandberg to oversee the program, and paraprofessional Tori Ogden to do the “ground work.” State regulations require a certified professional be in charge of the program; Sandberg will fill that role. Ogden is licensed as a substitute teacher. Abbots said the district currently serves 21 homeschool students, primarily at the middle school and high school levels.
Board secretary and business manager Brenda Muir reported she is nearly finished with the lengthy certified annual report, special education supplement and annual transportation report. Muir said there is a deficit in the special education supplement that is similar to last year’s deficit.
Muir also reported the district will be requesting from the state School Budget Review Committee allowable growth of $448,421.14 to cover the special education deficit. Abbots said it would be very unusual for a district not to have a deficit in special education. Greene County’s deficit is a little higher than some other districts, and Abbots said he and Sandberg are looking at how to decrease the deficit.
The district will also request $10,969 in allowable growth for a deficit in Limited English Proficient expenditures.
The board approved the purchase of 225 Chromebook 360s at a price of $260 each, total cost of $48,766.50. Funding is from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund.
Board president Steve Fisher was appointed as the board’s delegate to the Iowa Association of School Board delegate assembly. Fisher was not present at the meeting.
