The Greene County School Board met Wednesday night.

The Board approved an amount not to exceed $180,000 to build a new restroom facility at Linduska Field, with most of the work to be done by the high school construction class. They also approved 11 school driver permit requests and two fundraiser requests as presented, the dairy bid from Anderson/Erickson and the bread bid from Pan O Gold for the 2023-24 school year. They also approved the student book fees for full pay and reduced, along with meal prices with no change from last year, except for adult meals saw a slight increase; and activity passes with no changes except for gate ticket prices for football is $7 for students and for other high school activities it is $6 for students.

Next, the Board approved the 2023-24 depositories as presented, appointed Tresea Hoyle as the treasurer and Mumma and Pedersen as legal counsel, the sports medicine coverage contract with 21st Century Rehabilitation for the same amount as last school year for $9,500, and the iJAG (Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates) to continue with 9th-12th grade programs for $50,000. They also reviewed the 28E agreement with New Opportunities for the Head Start program, as well as the 2021-22 financial audit.

The Board heard a concern regarding a policy in the 2023-24 employee handbook regarding the pay scale. Darren Jackson represented the Greene County Education Association on behalf of high school instructor Julie Carlson. Jackson asked that Carlson be allowed to use her accrued credits from the bachelor’s scale to move her from the regular master’s scale to master’s +30. Superintendent Brett Abbotts said the policy stated that you couldn’t double dip and credits can only be used after you receive a master’s degree. After hearing the concern, the Board felt it was a personnel matter and approved the handbook.

Finally, the Board held a discussion about the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) funds that will be on the ballot for voters to decide to continue using property tax and sales tax dollars on improving and repairing school buildings, vehicles and technology in November. The Board will officially call for the measure to be on the ballot at their August meeting.