Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

28 days and counting for school kids

School board seeks to button up renovation project, considers out-of-state travel requests and hears of initiatives for 2019-20 school year

The first loan payment for the school renovation project is due May 1. The debt service fund is short $13,000 because they didn’t have a full year to collect tax revenue. The total annual payment is $198,739.85. Heskin noted that this payment will include more principal and less interest due to the fact that a full year’s interest hasn’t accrued, but the payment is the same. The $13,000 will come from district general fund revenue.

Patti Larson updated the board on building committee activity. As for the renovation project, the committee is still working with CTS Group to address open issues with drywall in five classrooms. The project’s “commissioning”, or official completion, has been delayed several months due to this. The project manager from CTS Group was due on site Wednesday to discuss next steps with Superintendent Jill Louters.

The building committee’s next priorities include the roof and front door security. Larson said committee members would like to explore hiring a structural engineer to see if there is a better alternative to the rubber roof. Business Manager Janet Heskin will look through archives to see if there was a structural study done in the past. There is approximately $280,000 available in the building fund to cover roofing costs.

President John Grann inquired about the costs incurred by the district for the State Class B Basketball Tournament. Heskin acknowledged that on paper the expenses seemed high, but explained that NDHSAA pays a sum to the district at the end of the year for each participant in state or regional tournaments in all activities. This includes music, speech and One Act Play as well. Also, some of the expenses, such as the $12,000 in ticket purchases, were offset by revenue from sales to spectators.

Advisors for three groups were granted permission to accompany students on national trips: SADD, archery and FBLA.

National SADD Conference will be held June 23-26 in Phoenix, Ariz. Three students- Logan Munson, Kenna Munson and Garret Schuster- and advisor Jon Johnson will attend. Johnson said they will fly out June 21 and return June 27. Logan Munson has applied for the college advisory council. If awarded, his trip will be paid in full. Cost is $1,200 for students and $1,500 for advisor, paid for by those attending. If Logan is named to the council, per school policy the advisor’s trip expenses would be paid by the school district.

NASP Western Nationals Archery Tournament is coming up on April 24-28 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Six archers have qualified for nationals. According to coach Jamie Risovi, there are 61 kids on the Rockets team. Hankinson has had a team for 16 years, and our elementary team beat them by 4 points in the state tournament! The board approved out-of-state travel for six students and Risovi. They are taking the Rocket bus so the families can all travel together. Each rider will share in the cost of transportation. Since the students qualified, the school district will cover Risovi’s hotel rooms and reimburse him for meals based on a per diem. The group plans to spend two nights in Billings and two nights in Salt Lake City. There will be 18,000 kids competing in the tournament.

Pat Rinde entered a request to accompany students who qualified for FBLA National Conference. The event takes place in San Antonio, Texas from June 29 - July 2. According to the request, the total cost for her travel is $2,871, and she seeks approval should any of the qualifying students be able to attend. According to Heskin, the district can seek reimbursement for up to 30 percent of the cost from the state CTE program. Her travel was also approved.

The contract negotiation process for certified staff is progressing. The board approved a motion to recognize NRSEA as the representative agent for the teachers for a minimum of one year. Negotiations are set to begin within 30 days.

The board’s self-evaluation is complete. Grann noted that he would like to see some adjustments made to the tool itself, as not all the items are applicable to the board’s structure. New member David Holzwarth recommended that the board complete the evaluation annually moving forward. Both he and Mike Jacobson noted that the new member orientation they attended was eye-opening. Jacobson added that he would like to see training offered each year for board members. Alyson Myhre suggested bringing back a representative from the North Dakota School Board Association for an educational session. Superintendent Jill Louters offered to share the document with John Martinson, former Executive Director of the NDSBA, who is now consulting with school districts. She will entertain a proposal from Martinson for a board retreat open to the public to be held after the June election. The board will then review the proposal before deciding to move forward.

In her report, Louters stated that she had been researching the potential to procure Impact Aid for the district. This federal program is designed to assist local school districts that have lost property tax revenue due to the presence of tax-exempt Federal property, or that have experienced increased expenditures due to the enrollment of federally connected children, including children living on Indian lands.

Principal Natalie Becker noted that the Quarter 4 midterm was Friday, April 12. There are now just 28 days left of the school year, and the the students are completing their spring standardized tests. Planning is underway for 2019-20, and she noted that they intend to hold preschool classes 5 half-days a week, an increase from the four they currently hold. She added that preschool focuses more on social and emotional learning through play and than it does academic rigor.

Principal Avolt Baumbach said he has been working to transfer grades 9-12 to flex-mod scheduling beginning next fall. With this change, the high school day would be split into (21) 20-minute “modules” rather than seven class “periods” separated by bells. Students would pass in between modules as/when needed. Class lengths would vary from 40-80 minute increments with open modules in between for students to seek help from teachers or complete class work. More on what this looks like for students, staff and administration in next week’s Transcript.

Editor's Note: Updated to clarify that the district has the funds to cover the full renovation loan payment; the debt service fund is short, and the general fund will be used to make up the difference.