By Elaine Rassel
At the MMCRU School District Board of Directors Joint Session at Monday’s meeting, the Superintendent’s report stated that the Homeless Liaison and 504 Coordinator positions printed from their September meeting was wrong. The homeless liaison is to be Liz Koenig (not Kayla Means) for both districts and Kayla Means as 504 Coordinator for the RU district (not Toby Young).
Now onto the rest of the meeting. Request to SBRC (School Budget Review Committee) for Modified Supplemental Amount for the Special Education Deficit of $137,086.90 was approved.
The new policies and updates of the 900-series were approved.
The resignation of Donna Bolton as Paraprofessional was approved. The hiring of Kayla Simons and Jessica Cave as Paraprofessionals were approved. Karla Pierce was approved as Cook.
The updates and changes to the (WGS) Whole Grade Sharing Agreement Renewal for MMCRU was approved at the 2022-2023 school year. This agreement consists of (1) Term of contract; (2) Term beyond initial 3 years; (3) Grades 5-8 to be in Remsen; (4) Grades 9-12 (the instructional and extra-curricular programs for these Grades at MMC district); (5) Grades Pre-K-4th (Each school maintains and pays for these grades in their district); (6) Services (includes complete academic programming for regular program students); (7) Financial Arrangements from Instructional Programs; (8) Personnel Costs; (9) Extra-curricular Activities (HS basketball and Volleyball 50/50 between Marcus and Remsen; JH Basketball and Volleyball at Remsen; JH and HS Track at Marcus; HS Football at Marcus; Junior varsity Football at Marcus; JH Football at Remsen; Double Header Softball and Baseball in Remsen, single games determined by Activity Directors.
Bowling at Remsen; Wrestling at Marcus; Cross country 50/50 split between Marcus and Remsen; Golf is 50/50 split; Plays and Drama at best suited venue; and Music Concerts at best suited venue.) (10) Extracurricular Expenses; (11) Transportation Expenses; (12) Insurance; (13) Jurisdiction over Students; (14) Staffing; (15)Evaluations; (16) Contracts; (17) Board Meetings (Each district shall conduct joint meetings); (18) Buildings and Expenses (19) Tuition; (20) Study Committee; (21) Disputes; (22) Amendment; and (23) Separability. This Agreement Renewal was signed by both Board Presidents; Chris Poeckes (RU) and Karla Prunty (MMC).
The old school bus up for sale had only one sealed bid Tyler Rueter’s bid was approved for $750.00.
The meeting closed with Matt Gillaspie of Piper Sandler presenting information regarding bond sales to the MMC Board. After his presentation, the MMC Board approved the adoption of the resolution directing the sale of the bonds.
Toby Young, Principal of MMCRU Middle School/Remsen Elementary gave the following report: The end of the first quarter is October 20. The school year has gone very well considering the staff shortages that we’ve experienced due to absences. August 13; Sept. 95; and October 63. I want to thank our staff for stepping up to help when needed. We are very blessed!
Jr. High Volleyball & Cross Country have come to an end with all programs showing improvement showing growth throughout the season. The JH Football team will conclude their season on Tuesday, Oct. 19 vs. Unity Christian. Thank you to our athletes and coaches for all their hard work. JH Boys basketball practice will begin on Thursday, Oct. 21 with their first game on Monday, Nov. 8.
Academic/PD Updates FAST Testing (TK-8) Fall Testing window result (Reading & Math) will be shared at the Nov. meeting. Our building & district PD/s continue to focus on RIPL, PBIS, MTSS and PLC’s. Our elementary buildings (TK-4) will be implementing a new reading curriculum to begin the 2022-2023 school year. This is a big undertaking and we’re holding regular meetings to receive input from our teahers and have narrowed down our list to 4. We plan to make a final selection and purchase by late January.
Technology Updates Middle School is implementing LanSchool Air in all of our classrooms. LanSchool Air helps teachers connect with students within a digital space to create more meaningful online experiences, both in the classroom and remotely. With LanSchool Air, teachers can help improve student engagement, teach digital citizenship, and provide an immersive learning environment. This feature is also compatible with google classroom. Screen monitoring, web limiting and student online safety/responsibility are the major focus areas.
PS-8 Grade Enrollment Certified enrollment was submitted on October 15 and I will give enrollment data at Nov.’s meeting.
Upcoming Elementary/Middle School Events: JH Football vs. Unity Christian on Oct. 19. Picture Day is Oct. 19. Iowa Youth Survey-6th & 8th Grade is Oct. 19; End of first quarter is Oct. 20. JH boys’ Basketball practice begins on Oct. 21; District Professional Development is Oct. 27 with a 2 hour dismissal; Middle School Fall concert is Oct. 28. Parent/Teacher Conferences are Nov. 1 and Nov. 4 with a 2 hour early dismissal (4 p.m.-8 p.m. each day) NO SCHOOL on Nov. 5 (Teacher comp Day).
Upcoming State Reports/Events are Preschool Desk Audit and Universal Desk Audit_Due Dec. 15
Current Openings at Remsen are JH Track, Substitute Teacher’s and Substitute Paraprofessional’s.
Principal Travis Sprague, for PK-4, and 9-12 at Marcus reported the following: We are approaching the end of the 1st quarter and it has been a success so far. Everyday I try to visit each classroom and often times I visit multiple times a day. Students are engaged in learning and MMCRU teachers are passionate about their instruction and about their students. We are incorporating more technology in our classroom whether with Chromebooks or iPads and creative projects arise from that. New ways to present concepts are being devised on a weekly basis.
In terms of professional development, we have focused on RIPL training. RIPL focuses on building relationships (student-student, student-staff, and staff-staff) that are impactful and seek to be proactive rather than reactive. RIPL teaches us how we can all be leaders in simple ways. RIPL challenges have and will be occurring over the next couple of months. Also, ways to celebrate our school achievements through team building. In addition we continue to work in our PLC groups analyzing data and implementing interventions to help our struggling and excelling students.
During the past month, I have been working to ensure all of our state reporting is correct. This reporting directly affects our funding for next year and our budget. I have completed the MMC certified Enrollment, SRI, CASA, and Desk Audits. Rest assured that I, along with the entire administrative team, work hard to ensure all of our data is correct. I must also state that this work could not have been done without significant help from Anita Penning and Kristi Ames.
Compared to last year, we have seen a significant rise in the student absentee rate at both the high school and elementary. Several illnesses have gone around this summer/fall that have led to this increase. Our students have responded well when they have returned to school. We have also had an increase in the need for substitutes due to staff illness or short-term leave (maternity and surgery). This has occurred particularly at the high school. This does put a strain on the system but our staff has responded well as they are subbing during their prep periods (and other times) quite regularly.
I want to recognize our Cross Country team for their excellent War Eagle Conference showing. Kaden Galles (1st), Brett Staab (6th ); and Brayden Dirks (9th ) were named all-conference runners. The boys’ team also earned a runner-up finish. Cross Country District (State Qualifying) Meet will take place on Thursday, Oct. 21 at Holstein. At the time of writing this board report, the varsity volleyball team has one regular season game left. MMCRU High School will host the first 2 rounds of district volleyball on Monday, Oct. 19 and Wednesday, Oct. 21. If we win those games, we will play at Le Mars Gehlen on Monday, Oct. 25. At the time of writing this board report, the varsity football team has 2 games left (away at Sidney this Friday and home for week 9 against Lawton-Bronson on Friday, Oct. 22).
Important Dates are October 20: End of First Quarter; Oct. 26: Fall HS Concert (Band and Choir); Oct. 27: 2-Hour Early Dismissal for Professional Development. November 1 & 4: 2-Hour Early Out & Parent-Teacher conferences (4-8). November 5: NO SCHOOL. Nov. 10: 2-Hour Early Dismissal for Professional Development; Nov. 11: Veterans’ Day Assembly in Remsen; and Nov. 18; 2nd Quarter Midterm.
Current Openings in Marcus include 1:1 Elementary Paraprofessional; Substitutes (Paraprofessional and Teachers) and Assistant Boys’ Track Coach.
Superintendent Barkel’s report: Staffing: We’re still struggling with staffing, more due to the many absences we have had with illnesses, long-term absences, etc. This seems like it is a common problem in many districts statewide this year. We have been successful in securing more paras and cooks for those shortages, but continue to struggle finding subs day-to-day.
The process continues on the design phase of the building project at MMC. Last week our staff members met with Eric Coleman, our lead architect from CMBA, as well as two interior design members of their firm. We plan to meet again with the architects on Oct. 21.
On the agenda this month is a request to the School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) for allowable growth for the special ed deficits in both districts. We also need to fix two things that we did wrong last month. We want our homeless liaison to be Liz Koenig for both districts (not Kayla Means), and Kayla Means as the 504 Coordinator for the RU district. (not Toby Young).
The Whole Grade Sharing (WGS) Study committee consisting of Karla Prunty, Chris Poeckes, Laura Staab and Travis Tentinger, met on Oct. 12, and agreed to some minor changes to the current WGS agreement. A draft copy of the proposed new agreement is included in the board packet. We need the boards to vote on whether to adopt the proposed new agreement which would be effective beginning in the 2022-23 school year.
We have one sealed bid for a bus. We don’t know if it is for the MMC bus for sale or the RU that is for sale. We will open the bid and find out!
The benches and bike rack have arrived at the entrance of RU and the sod has been laid. It looks nice, and we think it will be a nice addition for our kids.
I expected to have an HVAC plan from Norm Te Krony of EDA ready for approval from the RU board this month. But we will postpone it until next month. It is our intention to get this HVAC work done this upcoming summer depending on contractor availability.
We will be reviewing/revising our 900 Series policies referencing school district/community relations at the October board meeting. This is mostly standard stuff, and it should not take long to review. After this series, we are done reviewing policies for this school year.
The administrators will give their reports early in the board meeting so Mr. Sprague can supervise the district volley ball game.
Towards the end of the board meeting, the MMC board needs to pass a resolution and open sealed bids for the bond sale to finance the building projects at MMC. RU board members can adjourn prior to this so they can watch the volleyball match if they choose.
The MMCRU School District Board of Directors met in regular joint session on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. at the Industrial Technology Classroom in Marcus.
RU Board members present were: Tentinger, Krier, Loutsch, and Poeckes. Absent was Penning.
MMC Board members present were: Prunty, Leavitt, Staab, and Dreckman. Absent was Olson.