The Greene County School Board met in regular session Wednesday.

Following a closed session to discuss student misconduct regarding actions of a 15-year-old who faces criminal charges for posting a picture of firearms on snapchat, the Board decided to suspend the student until additional information can be obtained. Then a disciplinary hearing will be scheduled on the matter.

Next the Board awarded $15.9 million in general obligation bonds to Janney Montgomery Scott of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with an interest rate of 3.37-percent. The Board also approved the 2017-18 Treasurer’s report as presented and reappointed Sid Jones as the Board Treasurer, Brenda Muir as the Broad Secretary and Mumma and Pedersen as the Board’s Legal Counsel for the 2018-19 school year. Additionally, the Board approved opening a debt service bank account at Home State Bank to collect property taxes and deposit the “good faith payment” from Janney Montgomery toward the school bond project.

They also approved the 2018-19 depositories, the 2018 fall official’s list, reviewed several board policies and several fundraisers as presented. The Board selected four priorities for the 2019 Iowa Association of School Boards Legislative Priorities. Those include: mental health, property taxes, drop out and at-risk programs, and the Secure an Advanced Vision and Education (SAVE) funds.

Finally, a sub-committee presented the Board with the proposal that was given to the Paton-Churdan sub-committee during a joint meeting on July 24th. A main item was an increase in the cost per assistant coach per sport for the 2019-2020 school year for a total of about $40,000. As for the 2019-2020 academic year, they are proposing an increase up to 100-percent of the State Cost Per Pupil, with a 125-percent State Cost Per Pupil for Career and Technical Education, as well as upper level math and science courses. Then for the 2020-2021 school year, Greene County proposes a one-way, whole grade sharing for 9th through 12th grades. No decision was made at the joint meeting, but all Greene County School Board members were in favor of the proposal. A decision to terminate the academic sharing agreement between the school districts must be made before November 1st.

Superintendent Tim Christensen noted that he will be meeting with Greene County Development Corporation Executive Director Ken Paxton about interest in saving the Grand Junction school building, as well as discussion about interest on the current middle school building possibly being used for a project once it is vacated.