The Greene County School Board met last night in regular session.
The Board heard another student construction house update with instructor Chuck Wenthold. He said the students are replacing parts of the concrete driveway at the Habitat for Humanity house at 901 West Washington Street. The students also installed siding on the house from one that will eventually be burned down from 107 South Olive Street. Then on May 4th, the students will go to a house that the school district owns in Grand Junction to do some repair work on the roof that was damaged from hail.
During administrative reports, it was mentioned that the first and second graders raised $12,852 for Jump Rope for Heart.
The Board then approved the 2015-16 school calendar. The calendar includes August 24th as the first day of school, with the final day being on May 27th and graduation on May 22nd. There will also be a week long spring break from March 21st through the 25th.
The Board also approved a $156,500 bid from Boland Recreation in Marshalltown for new football bleachers. The contractor would install 15 rows of aluminum bleachers with two handicap accessible ramps and a seven foot corridor underneath the bleachers. The project is slated to be done later this summer with funds to come from the Voter-Approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy.
Other items the Board approved were a fertilizer and seeding contract with Raccoon Valley Lawn Care for $3,625, continuing to share Jenny Fisher’s position as shared media specialist with Paton-Churdan for the 2015-16 school year, both the Jefferson-Scranton and East Greene School District audits for the 2013-14 school year, continuing an agreement to purchase food from Iowa Association of Educational Purchasing, several board policies relating to student transportation, a professional development contract with Heinemann to bring in a guest speaker on August 28th and amending the architectural agreement with Shive Hattery to design a concept drawing for the administrative building and designing more locker rooms in the middle school gym.
Another item that was approved by the Board is the Teacher Quality Professional Development Committee. The teachers on that committee include Mavis and Mark Sawhill, Kevin Richards and Lori Danner. The administrators include Tim Christensen, Karen Sandberg, Scott Johnson and Maranda Van Cleave.
The Board also approved the sports sharing agreements for the upcoming school year. For girls sports, Greene County would share softball and golf with Paton-Churdan, soccer with Carroll and swimming with Boone. For boys sports, Greene County would share baseball, golf, wrestling and football with Paton-Churdan and soccer and swimming with Boone.
The Board discussed the possibility of having a shared transportation director with Paton-Churdan. Superintendent Christensen said that he was approached by the Paton-Churdan School District about sharing a transportation director. Greene County would receive additional money if they shared the position. The Board decided to table their decision because they wanted to form a committee with Paton-Churdan to further discuss other potential benefits. The Board members on the committee are Ashley Johnston, Mark Peters and Sam Harding.