By Elaine Rassel
Due to CDC & IDPH guidelines, masks are now optional. Schools having a hard time to decide if masks should be worn in school, had their decision made for them when guidelines from CDC & IDPH made it optional.
Remsen had bids for a new tractor/mower as well as a bus camera bid that were considered Remsen items and no action was taken because of this. There was also a preschool request that was a Remsen item with no action taken.
An air cleaner had been asked for to use in the Industrial Arts building. Two bids were received ($18,870 and $23,850) with Air King having the lowest bid and was accepted.
The time has come when hires and resignations are soon at a close. Amber Van Regenmorter, teacher of music for PI-grade 4 and Taylor Meador, Para, had their resignations approved.
The bids for Kemps milk and Casey’s Bakery bread were approved by the Boards.
It was approved to have a 2-hour early out on May 27.
A new staff health insurance proposal was discussed.
Adjustment to the extra duty wage scale were approved.
The settlement with MMCAA & the Classified work assignment list was approved, Parties have agreed t a settlement of a $0.40/hr increase for hourly employees and $40/month increase for bus drivers.
A list of employees was given: Kristi Ames (Elementary Secretary) Kylee Ames, Donna Bolton, Chris Bush, Mary Deichmann, Melissa Doellinger, Becky Geerdes, Kim Haaven, Stacy Johnson, Stephanie Kruse, Debra Mayer, Emily Pedersen, Laura Petersen, Cheryl Peyton, Jocee Roberts, Linda Roseen, Taylor Schneider, and Carla Weber are Para’s.
Anita Penning is High School secretary. Cooks are Jan Bauer, Christy Carlson, and Rachel Harmelink. Bus Drivers are Gary Husman, Janice Husman, Leslie Pedersen, and Dave Theisen. Head Custodian is Leslie Pedersen. Linda Pedersen and Stacy Skadeland are the other custodians.
Toby Young, MMCRU Middle/Elementary School Principal reported:
The 2020-2021 school year is coming to an end. Numerous activities are planned for the final 2 weeks of the school year for our elementary and middle school students. The final day of classes will be Thursday, May 27. Teachers last day will be Friday, May 28. Our staff has done a great job navigating through a difficult time and have made every effort to provide instruction, feedback and resources to allow our students to move forward in their learning through out the school year. We have received our (3rd – 8th ) ISASP scores and will be reviewing this data and hope to present information at our board meeting in June or July. We will continue to work over the summer to fine tone our schedules and pd calendar to get ready for the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. Overall, it’s been a very successful year, both academic and extracurricular. All of those successes are because of the wonderful students, staff and communities we have that support MMCRU.
Extended School Year_Will begin the week of June 7 and run through July 15. Summer Reading Program_Will begin the week of June 21 (1 week in June, July, and August).
New Staff Hires include: Breeana De Vos Middle School/High School Vocal. Jake Sande_7/8 grade Reading. Sydney Seuntjens_7/8 Grade English and Mariah Wurth_5/6 Grade English.
Projected Class Numbers for this next school year are the following:
PS-13 TK 20 with 2 sections; K with 20; Grade 1 with 23; Grade 2 with 23; Grade 3 with 26 (2 sections); Grade 4 with 12; Grade 5 with 32; Grade 6 with 48; Grade 7 with 51 and Grade 8 with 51.
Current Openings include TK-Grade 4 for Elementary Vocal; Elementary teacher; Middle school SPED (Strat II); ESL Paraprofessional; Elementary Paraprofessionals; and Middle School Paraprofessionals.
Travis Sprague (PK-4, 9-12 Principal for MMCRU Marcus Elementary and MMCRU High School reported the following:
The MMCRU Marcus Elementary and MMCRU High School are on the cusp of finishing a successful 2020-2021 school year. The High School has completed Service Day, ISASP Testing, Prom, Senior Awards Night, and our Spring Concert. Our Elementary has completed FFA Field Safety Day, ISASP Testing, numerous field trips, the Heartland Petting zoo, and much more. We have also celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week, Nurses’ Day, Administrative Assistant Day, and Mental Health Week. Mrs. Schroeder has completed the 2021-2022 master schedule for high school and I have completed our elementary master schedule. We have and will continue to provide students and families assistance in terms of signing up for class and overall guidance. Our school year will end on Thursday, May 27. Graduation will take place on Sunday, May 23. I owe a tremendous thanks to Mrs. Schroeder for her Senior Awards night Work, Mrs. Barry, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Penning for their Graduation Work; and Mrs. Bottjen, Mr. and Mrs. Youde, Mr. Marra, Mrs. Schroeder, Mrs. Brandenburg, and others for their Prom work.
Our elementary staff has toured the HMS elementary and the Cherokee elementary schools and the plan is to have our high school tour the Sioux Center High School. The staff has also met once with the CMBA architects.
We will be offering a full Extended School Year and summer School Program (Reading and Math) for our students.
At the time of writing this report, state qualifying track and boys’/girls’ district golf has not taken place. Currently, our high school softball team has 27 girls out and our baseball team has 31 out. We are excited for a full summer season to take place.
Planning and preparation for next school year is on the forefront of my mind. Our tentative student numbers for next school year (2021-2022) are: PK (29), TK (8); K (21); 1st (24); 2nd (33); 3rd (31); 4th (22); 9th (50); 10th (51; 11th (46); and 12th (39).
I would like to make a special mention of some very important Royals. At the end of this school year, Caryn Barry, Janelle Horstman, and Clark Rainboth will be retiring. They have served MMCRU with distinction and have personally helped me out tremendously. In addition, Amber Van Regenmorter, Ianna Schindler, Andrew Wotherspoon, Taylor Meador, and Sydney Hart will be continuing their educational careers elsewhere or embarking on new adventures at the end of this school year. Each has served MMCRU well and I am personally grateful for having worked alongside them.
Current Openings are for High School Science, middle/High School Vocal, Elementary Paraprofessionals and High school Paraprofessionals.
Superintendent Barkel reported the following:
We are getting to the end of the hiring process for teachers. We have a few more positions left to fill at both RU and MMC. Everything else, for now, appears to be tied down. We still have paras to hire for next year and few applicants. If you know of anyone interested, please let us know.
We’ve had a lot of positives in the last few days. Last week’s teacher appreciation week was very positive thanks to your involvement. Also, the middle school is looking forward to their trip to Arnolds park on May 20 for being named a school that is making a difference. Also, we have many field trips scheduled now as the weather gets warmer and better. It is nice to see things open up and provide more opportunities for our students.
It’s time to go to a “masks optional” or “masks recommended” policy for the rest of the school year. The goal of wearing masks all year was to 1. Protect our older staff members, (2) Eliminate contact tracing quarantine so we can keep all kids in school and (3) Make it possible to host events in our buildings. Our COVID positivity numbers are very low and all of our staff have had an opportunity to get the vaccine. Now that we only have two weeks to go in the school year, it is time to make them optional. I plan to have a “masks optional” policy when the school year starts next fall, and would only consider requiring them again if our CIVID positivity test numbers get above 15% again.
A video crew from Dordt University has been working on two promotional videos for our districts. One focuses on the schools as a whole, and the other focuses on our award-winning industrial Tech program. We would like to share the rough cut of the video with you tonight so you have a taste of what is to come.
It was good to come to a settlement with the MMC Classified Association this past Wednesday. Now their contracts can go out and we can get prepared for the 21-22 school year.
The process continues on the design phase of the project at MMC. Many people have been anxious to start construction, but at this point, I’m glad we have ample time for the design process, because of the current high cost of materials. This past month our high school staff has met with the architect, our elementary staff visited the new elementary school in Cherokee, and the high school staff is planning to visit the new Sioux Center High School on May 28. In addition, our architect will again be visiting with our MMC elementary staff in the morning and high school staff in the afternoon of May 28 after their visit to Sioux Center.
We look forward to offering for the first time, computer science (CS) courses at the high school level. We have two staff members that have been working on their endorsement for teaching computer science. We are also investigating the concept of a CS immersion program at the elementary level in the future. This is just in the initial investigatory phase, but we at least want to explore what would benefit our students with this type of approach.
The MMC teachers were introduced to our new medical insurance plan last week in Marcus. The plan will be a “partially self-funding” opportunity for the MMC district which will provide savings for both the individual teacher and the district. The MMC district has had very high health insurance premiums for many years in comparison to other districts. This type of plan is similar to what many other districts have, including Cherokee and Spencer, and has been very successful.
I believe we’re having a very good and positive end to a difficult school year. The staff has done a good job of pulling together during this year. In addition, we have a lot of very positive things we will be doing in the next two years that will make MMCRU even more notable notable in our region. I appreciate the support and patience that the board has given me to keep learning going this year, and help make our schools better. Thanks for all you do for MMCRU.
The MMCRU Board of Directors met in regular joint session on Tuesday , May 18, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. in the MMCRU Media Center. MMC Board members present were Prunty, Dreckman, Staab, and Leavitt. Absent was Olson.