By Elaine Rassel
The Iowa School Performance Profile ratings were given by the Principals of MMCRU Schools. More details on this were given in the Principals’ reports.
The Tuesday (Dec. 22, 2021) meeting of the MMCRU District Board of Directors was a two-part meeting. The first-part of the December meeting was approving consent items and approving the election results that could not be given at the November meeting as voting results were not in until November 16, which was one day after the regular November board meeting date. The election results for R-U were: 199 votes for Talon Penning; 167 for Loutsch; 153 for Eric Harpenau; and 119 for Chad Poeckes. The election results were approved for MMC that Luke Olson received 298 votes and Belinda Leavitt received 309 votes with 16 Scattering votes making a total of 623 votes cast for MMC Board members. Five minutes later, the Organizational Meeting was called to order.
The Organizational meeting had Karla Prunty nominated for President of MMC Board and Luke Olson nominated for Vice President for MMC Board. They were sworn in by Jill Alesch, Board Secretary.
Alternating monthly between Remsen and Marcus, the MMCRU School Board meetings will meet on the third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m.
Jill Alesch, Board Secretary and Joe Mohning, Board Treasurer were sworn in by Karla Prunty.
Moving on with more business, The Building Committee members nominated were Dreckman and Olson. The Bargaining Committee members nominated were Staab and Prunty.
MMC board does not have any members living in Plymouth County so no one was appointed.
For At Risk/Dropout Prevention, the amount of $96,256 was approved for the request for MSA.
The amount of $116,435 was approved the SBRC (School Budget Review Committee) request for On-Time Funding.
A Remsen matter was The EDA HVAC Proposal for RU Building consisted of HVAC retrofit in 16 classrooms, cafeteria, gym and auditorium at Remsen-Union building.
A Revenue Purpose Statement Election on March 8, 2022 was introduced and approved as Resolution Approving Revenue Purpose Statement, Ordering An Election on a Revenue Purpose Statement to Authorize Expenditures from Revenue Received from the State Secure an Advanced Vision for Education Fund, and Ordering the Publication of a Notice of Election.
Resignations approved were Karla Pierce as cook at Marcus who will be going to Remsen for an Elementary Para. Other resignations were for Kimmy Seuntjens and Stacy Skadeland as MMCRU custodian and Rocky Bork as Middle School Boys Basketball and Middle School Football coach.
Principal Toby Young at MMCRU Middle School/Remsen Elementary reported the following:The end of the 1st Semester is Wednesday, December 23. Things have gone very will this semester at both the Elementary and Middle School.
Our Winter Probes will be completed at the middle School and Elementary by the end of the semester and data will be reviewed at our PD in January.
Our Elementary and Middle School have been participating in our 12 Days of Christmas to finish out the semester. Fun activities for our students and staff have taken place each day and our students and staff have really enjoyed it. Our staff and students have also provided gifts to families in need, which has also been a highlight.
JH (Junior High) boys Basketball season has been extremely successful. The season ended on Thursday, Dec. 16 with victories over HLP. I would like to thank Coach Bork and Coach West for their work and dedication to coaching our middle school teams.
JH Girls basketball and JH Wrestling (Shared with Cherokee) will begin on Tuesday, January 4.
The MMCRU Remsen Elementary received a High Performing Rating (64.61) and the Middle School received a Commendable Rating (55.89) from the Iowa School Performance Profile. The state average is 54.70. Congratulations to our staff and students for making this happen!
Breaking this down into Rating Categories Exceptional scored 66.31 and above. High Performing was 60.61 to 66.30. Commendable as 54.91 to 60.60. Acceptable was 49.21 to 54.90. Needs Improvement was 43.96 to 49.20 and Priority/Comprehensive was 43.95 and below. MMCRU qualified for High Performing and Commendable.
I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas with family and a Happy New Year!
Upcoming Elementary/Middle School Events are: Teacher Work Day January 3 (RIPL Training in the afternoon), First Day of the 2nd Semester is January 4. January School Board Meeting is January 17 at Remsen.
Current Openings at the Remsen Building include Middle School JH Football Coach, Middle School JH Boy’s Basketball Coach, Substitute Teachers, and Substitute Paraprofessionals.
Travis Sprague, Principal for PK-4 and 9-11 reported the following: The MMCRU Marcus Elementary and MMCRU High School are preparing for the end of the semester. This includes semester tests, classroom holiday festivities, and goodwill offering to the less fortunate within our communities. Through our NHS (National Honor Society) coin drive, over $750 was raised for gifts given through Mid Sioux. MMCRU staff has also donated significantly to our blessing tree program. Our FFA has adopted families to provide food during the holidays. We had an amazing Madrigal with many of our high school students involved. In addition, our elementary students put on a great Christmas concert under the direction of Ms. Tessa Hansen. At the writing of this board report, we will be having our high school Christmas concert tonight under the direction of Ms. Breeana De Vos and Ms. Emma Davis.
In the past several weeks, significant repairs have been made or will be made to our boiler systems. We continue to do our best to patch our outdated facilities.
The MMCRU Dance team finished 5th for their pom routine and 3rd for their kick routine at State Dance. Asya Miller won 1st place (over 60 dancers) at State Dance solo. Additionally, the team received the distinguished academic award for a cumulative GPA (Grade Point Average) of 3.5 or greater. We continue to work with the Steffen family in support of Kam.
As of right now, the MMCRU Foundation Dinner will be on Saturday, March 19.
Both MMCRU High School and MMCRU Elementary earned a commendable rating through the Iowa Performance Profile. State Rating is 54.91-60.60 Both were within a point or less of earning the High Achieving Rating which is 60.61-66.30. We are in the process of figuring out professional development for next year.
Here is our breakdown of our student-athletes for winter sports: Basketball Cheer (8); Girls Basketball (16); Boys Basketball (24 with one manager); Bowling (13); Dance (8); Wrestling (2); Archery (32) and Speech (65).
Important Dates Coming Up include January 3 Full-Day Professional Development; January 4 is First Day of 2nd Semester; and January 6 is 2-Hour Early Out for Professional Development.
Current Openings in Marcus include Assistant High School Boys Track; Elementary and High School Paraprofessionals; Substitute Teachers and Paraprofessionals and a Custodian.
Superintendent Barkel reported the following: The planning for the MMC building improvements continues. This past month Principal Sprague and myself traveled to the CMBA offices in Sioux City to select finishes for much of the new elementary and high school renovation. In addition, a meeting with the MMC building committee was held to decide what to do about the current multi-purpose room of the elementary wing. A decision was made to demolish the multi-purpose room and use the footings to erect a new addition to the Industrial Tech building that will better meet the needs of the program and will be a better investment long-term for the district. The district will be soliciting funds from current and future industry partners of the Industrial Tech Dept. to help finance the difference in cost between trying to make the old multi-purpose room work, and a new structure using the same foundation.
The RU Building Committee met with Norm TeKrony of EDA to discuss the HVAC projects at RU. In order to finance the entire project at RU it will be necessary to pass a Revenue Purpose Statement during a special election in March, which would allow the RU district to access the one-cent sales tax monies an additional 20 years through 2049. Other school districts in the state have already passed Revenue Purpose Statements since the Iowa legislature last year extended the SAVE monies through 2049. Both districts would need to have 50% plus one vote in order to have a successful outcome during the election in March.
This month’s meeting is the organizational meeting after the board elections were held in November. Tonight we will approve the agenda, elect officers, administer oaths, and establish board meeting time/dates/locations before we tackle the agenda items.
Just as a clarification: Remember, the legislature does not allow virtual snow days this year to count towards the 180 days or 1080 hours necessary for a school year. Districts may do virtual snow days, but they won’t prevent having to make up hours or days at the end of the year. Since that is the case, it is not worth making our teachers do the extra work necessary for virtual snow days.
We have two separate agenda items dealing with requests to the School Budget Review Committee (SBRC). The first is to request the SBRC to consider a request for a modified supplemental amount (MSA), associated with the at-risk and dropout prevention program in both districts. The second is a request to the SBRC for On-Time funding to cover the additional costs associated with increased enrollments in each district. We need a board resolution from each district in order to make a request to the SBRC.
I have been in contact with Lou Ann Gvist, Board Development director of the Iowa Association of School Boards. We hare hoping to schedule a board workshop for new and veteran school board members for either January 17 or February 21, which are our usual board meeting dates. When we can get confirmation of the date, we will likely do a work session beginning at 6 p.m. for the workshop, which should take around 90 minutes, and will follow with the regular board meeting. I’m trying to schedule this so we don’t take another night out of your schedule for this event.
There are a lot of important items on tonight’s agenda that will impact the MMCRU Schools and our students for years to come. The future looks bright for the Royals, and it is an exciting time of growth to be on the boards at MMCRU! Go Royals!
The MMCRU School Board members met in regular joint session on Tuesday, December 22, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. at the MMCRU Commons. RU Board members present were: Tentinger, Krier, Loutsch, Penning, and Harpenau.
MMC Board members present were: Dreckman, Olson, Prunty, and Staab. Absent was Leavitt.