Iowa Central Community College honors Doug McDermott
The Greene County Community Schools board of directors took the final steps to sell general obligation capital loan notes at their regular Aug. 14 meeting, approving various resolutions and certificates, and finally approving a resolution authorizing the issuance of $5,165,000 general obligation capital loan notes, Series 2024, levying a tax for the payment thereof, and authorizing the execution of a loan agreement.
Proceeds from the bond sale will pay for solar heating systems at all three district school buildings. Repayments of the bonds will come from the physical plant and equipment levy.
The board first approved the sale at a special meeting July 31. At that time, it was announced that Home State Bank had purchased enough of the bonds to significantly reduce the interest rate.
Additional information shows that Peoples Bank also participated in the sale. The bonds were sold in blocks valued at $491,229.50 each. Peoples Bank purchased one block, while Home State Bank purchased five blocks.
Later in the meeting the board approved depository limits for the three local banks at the same levels as past years – Heartland Bank, $1,500,000; Home State Bank, $10,000,000; and Peoples Bank, $10,000,000. A new addition this year is the Iowa School Joint Investment Trust (ISJIT) with a limit of $7,000,000. Funds from the solar project bond issue will be held by ISJIT until they’re needed for project expenses.
The board approved the bus driver handbook and the coaches/director handbook for the new school year. School superintendent Brett Abbots noted that bus drivers are in the third year of a three-year agreement. The hourly rate for route drivers (morning/afternoon routes/shuttles and mid-day preschool routes) is set at $44.25, an increase of 2-1/2 percent. Drivers will be paid $19.54 an hour for activity trips and in-district driving aside from regular routes.
The board approved a service agreement with Classroom Clinic for tele-mental health services. Classroom Clinic software will allow school district personnel to schedule, coordinate, communicate and manage necessary paperwork and other resources needed to make direct patient care available to students. The district will have access to up to 12 hours per week to Classroom Clinic’s affiliate provider network, to include nine hours for therapy and up to three hours of medication management.
Classroom Clinic is a scheduling platform linked to a provider network. The district does not pay for the mental health services provided directly to students, with the patient care separately billed to the students or their insurance coverage, including Medicaid or private insurance.
Cost to the district is $15,000.
During the superintendent’s report, Dr Jesse Ulrich (pictured, right), president of Iowa Central Community College, presented the school district with a plaque recognizing Doug McDermott’s 24 years of service on the Iowa Central board of directors. McDermott (pictured, left) accepted the plaque.
Ulrich said that during the 24 years McDermott was on the board, Iowa Central Community College flourished. “He was very instrumental in the community… and in bringing the career academy here,” Ulrich said. “Nearly everywhere I go across the nine county (community college region) people say, ‘we kind of like something like Jefferson has.”
Ulrich intends the plaque to be displayed at the Greene County Career Academy.
Abbotts reported the Turf Tank autonomous field painter has arrived and that staff had already used it to paint field markings on the football practice field. Hash marks every yard and a Ram logo were not included, but the job took only 64 minutes and used 4.77 gallons of paint, about one-third the paint used by persons doing the painting.
