Greene County Community Schools board elected Cindi Daubendiek as president and Michelle Fields as vice president at an organizational meeting Nov. 13.
Board committee assignments are as follows: Daubendiek – Jefferson park & recreation board, negotiations, school improvement advisory (SIAC), and scholarship; Fields – administrative and classified salaries, and facilities; Bonnie Silbaugh – negotiations, Greene County Community Schools Foundation board, and wellness; Tim Riphagen – county assessor’s conference board, SIAC, insurance, facilities, and Bell Tower Community Foundation board; and Connie Boyd, administrative and classified salaries, scholarship, wellness, and policy review.
During the reports portion of the meeting, Fields shared she and Riphagen had talked with OPN Architects about a possible restroom project at Linduska Field. She said she wasn’t comfortable with OPN’s first proposal with a cost estimate of more than $1 million, and proposed waiting to hear from DLR Group before moving forward.
The board in July approved a contract with DLR for facility assessment, master planning and capital improvements across the district’s properties. DLR’s process includes meeting with members of the community. Fields suggested waiting to hear what the community wants to see at Linduska Field before planning for restrooms. “I’d like more community involvement instead of us making that decision. It’s not fixing a roof. It’s creating a presence for our district, and I want it to be something that’s not just two options from one architect firm and three of us decide,” Fields said.
Fields, Riphagen, and superintendent Brett Abbotts will meet with Ken Hagen of OPN to talk through logistics and to learn about the procedures of such a project.
The board approved an early retirement incentive for administrative, certified, and classified staff. No extra financial incentive is being offered. The policy provides eligibility and deadlines by which staff needs to announce their plans to receive payment for unused personal illness time.
The board heard a report from high school students who attended the National FFA convention in Indianapolis in October.
The board approved the first reading and waived the second reading of board policies dealing with board member social media engagement; chronic absenteeism and truancy regulations; and discipline of students who make threats of violence or cause incidents of violence (as named by Iowa House File 604).
The board approved the first amended reading of board policies and waived the second reading of policies dealing with the duties of the board secretary and treasurer; limitation to employment references; abuse of students by school district employees; compulsory education; chronic absenteeism and truancy; pregnant students; open enrollment transfers as the sending district and as the receiving district; weapons; student promotion-retention; basic instruction program; health services; care, maintenance and disposal of school district records; school nutrition program; and educational specifications for buildings and sites.
