There was no one present for the Public Hearing on the Proposed Issuance of Approximately $6,500,000 School Infrastructure Sales, Servies and Use Tax Revenue and Refunding Bonds.
There were eight MMCRU students receiving medals in the top three in the state in SkillsUSA that qualified them to compete in the national level in Atlanta, Georgia this summer. At the May Board meeting, the SkillsUSA National Competition trip this summer was approved.
The revisions to Policy 405.3 were approved. This revision was “The superintendent shall have the flexibility to issue contracts to licensed employees pending background checks and board approval. Contracts for licensed employees will not be considered valid until approved by the board and signed by the board president following board approval.
The Board approved revisions to Policy 705, having to do with purchasing, biding, and public improvements.
There were two bids for Audio & Video for the MMCRU Gym with the Mid States Audio bid that included wireless microphones being approved at $36,566,87.
The Class of 2022 MMCRU graduates was approved.
It was approved to have a two-hour early out on May 25.
The Frontline Education bid was approved.
Resignations approved were: Roger Davis (Para), Emily Pedersen (Para), Jocee Roberts (Para), Cheryl Peyton (Para), Shar Duncan (Head Archery Coach) who has taken the science position at MMCRU, and Jill Alesch (Assistant Archery Coach). Approved for hiring were: Cammy Ly (Teacher), Jen Nieuwenhuis_Elementary Summer School, Dawn Roberts, Elementary Summer School; Angeleah Hoefling, ESY (Extended School Year); Becky Geerdes (ESY Para); and Brenda Bird (NHS & Drama).
A hiring of a co-head wrestling coach for the shared Jr/Sr wrestling program with Cherokee was approved.
The Resolution Supporting the Proposed Issuance of Approximately $6,500,000 School Infrastructure Sales, Services and Use Tax Revenue and Refunding Bonds was approved by the MMC Board.
The Resolution Directing the Advertisement for Sale, Approving Electronic Bidding Procedures and Approving Official Statement-Series 2022B was approved by the MMC Board.
The Resolution Directing the Advertisement for Sale, Approving Electronic Bidding Procedures and Approving Official Statement-Series 2022 A was approved by the MMC Board.
MMCRU Middle School/Remsen Elementary Principal Toby Young reported: The 2021-2022 school year is coming to a close. Numerous activities are planned for the final 7 days of the school year for our elementary & middle school students. The final day of classes will be Wednesday, May 25. Teachers last day will be Thursday, May 26. Our staff has done an outstanding job providing quality instruction, feedback and resources to allow our students to move forward in their learning.
We have received our (3rd -8th ) ISASP scores for the 2021-2022 school year. Below is a summary of the on-demand report that was provided to us. This information is only a small snapshot of how our students did. We will continue to unpack more reports once we receive them and will use that information throughout our professional development next year.
We will continue to work over the summer to fine tone our schedules and PD calendar to get ready for the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. Overall, it’s been a very successful year, both academic & extracurricular. All of those successes are because of the wonderful students, staff and communities we have that support MMCRU.
Thank you to our staff who are leaving the district for other positions or retiring. We thank them for their work and all they’ve done for our students and MMCRU: Laurie Lamb, Ben Pirrie, Jake Sande, Mike Corbin, and Chellie Corbin.
Extended School Year_Will begin the week of June 6 and run through July 16.
Summer Reading Program Will begin the week of June 20th (1 week in June, July & August).
New Staff Hires are Kelli Gleason Kindergarten & MS Girls’ Basketball Coach .Alexa Neumann 7/8 Social Studies
2022-2023 Openings are 7/8 Reading Teacher and 7/8 Science Teacher and K-12 Art. Elementary Paraprofessionals (2) and Substitute Paraprofessionals and substitute Teachers
Principal Travis Sprague for PK-4, and 9-12 at 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 2021-2022 school year. The High School has completed Top 5 Banquet, Service Day, ISASP Testing, Prom, Senior Awards night, and our Spring Concert. Our Elementary has completed ISASP Testing, numerous field trips, and much more. We have also celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week, Nurses’ Day, Administrative assistant Day, and Mental Health Week. Mrs. Schroeder has completed the 20222-2023 master schedule for high school and I am in the process of completing 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 Wednesday, May 25. Graduation will take place on Sunday, May 22. I owe a tremendous thanks to Mrs. Schroder for her Senior Awards Night Work; Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Penning for their Graduation Work; and Mrs. Bottjen, Ms. Nance, Mr. and Mrs. Youde, Mr. and Mrs. Marra, Mrs. Schroeder, Mrs. Brandenburg, and others for their Prom work.
I have met with incoming principal Weisert to support him as he transitions into the role for next school year. 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 28 girls out and our baseball team has 30 out. We are excited for a full summer season to take place.
I would like to make a special mention of some very important Royals. At the end of this school year Julie Letsche, Beth Ebert, and Cheryl Peyton will be retiring. They have served MMCRU with distinction and have personally helped me out tremendously. In addition, Ben O’Ram, Amanda Lynch, Kristy Brandenburg, Jess Crist, Alex Roberts, Emily Pedersen, and Jocee Roberts will be continuing their educational career elsewhere or embarking on 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: Secondary Art; NHA Sponsor; High School Drama (Play Director); High School Girls Assistant Basketball coach; High School Boys 2nd Assistant Basketball Coach; Elementary Paraprofessionals; High School Paraprofessionals; and Substitute Teachers/Paraprofessionals.
Superintendent Dan Barkel reported the following: MMC Building project: Big changes will begin right after school gets out. All south entrances will be closed. The playground equipment will be yanked out and the music building will be moved. The south parking lot will be closed. Entrance to the high school, elementary and weight room will need to happen through the north doors. Asbestos removal will take place sometime in June or July. The entire facility will be fenced off to some degree. Parking will be a challenge, and it will be an adjustment. Our groundbreaking will be on May 25 at 10:30 a.m. I hope many of you can be present.
RU Building Projects: I’m waiting for Norm Te Krony to get his bid documents together. I expect to have this completed sometime this summer.
Our MMC new principal, Mr. Brandon Weisert, did a job shadow with Travis Sprague last Wednesday. We have already gotten him set up with the SAI Mentorship Program, and we are getting him signed up for SRI training in late August/early September. Thanks to the good work of Mr. Sprague, I believe the transition will go well, and I feel Mr. Weisert will do a good job. We are excited because Mr. Weisert has already purchased a home in Marcus.
Tonight is our last board meeting with Mr. Travis Sprague in attendance. I personally want to thank Mr. Sprague for the excellent work he has done for MMCRU for the past three years. Mr. Sprague has always paid a great deal of attention to detail, and has made things run as smoothly as they could during some trying times in MMCRU history, such as COVID, and with staff shortages since COVID. He has been an effective school leader for us, and I wish him well at his next post at Cedar Rapids Prairie High School. Thank you, Mr. Sprague!
We have two teachers who are retiring after many years of service to both MMC and RU. At RU, Mrs. Laurie lamb is retiring after 34 years of service at Remsen Elementary, and at MMC, Mrs. Julie Letsche is retiring after 37 years of service at Marcus Elementary. Please join me in congratulating these long time teachers in our districts.
We have hired an English teacher, and hired existing staff members for most of our summer programming at both sites, except for ESY in Remsen. We plan to transport some students from Remsen to Marcus for ESY during the summer since we cannot find a teacher for ESY in Remsen. As of today we have no applicants for ESY position, and it makes sense to consolidate.
I am asking the board to make a modification to our board policy regarding issuing contracts. We want to be able to issue them as soon as we make the hire after the interview. Currently we cannot issue them until they are approved by the board. In our current teacher shortage climate, we have lost prospective teachers because in the interim they have received another contract from another school, and opted to go there. We need to be more nimble if we are going to get the best teachers (or any teachers) for our kids.
My biggest gut ache right now (besides vouchers, the building project, the para/bus driver shortage and wages/inflation) is that we have zero applicants for our art position, 7-8 science. We are having to get creative, because we have no applicants. Teacher shortage? It’s real. As of May 12, there were currently 77 openings for art teachers on the TeachIowa website.
I am also asking the board to modify the amounts needed in our bidding policy. Otherwise for anything over $25K, we need to have an engineering report for anything that is bid over that amount. That adds substantial unnecessary cost for the districts and makes it very hard to obtain vehicles quickly in the current supply chain shortage climate. We need to rectify this for the purchase of a sound system at MMC, for asbestos removal at the high school, and also for purchasing a new van at RU.
Like last year, I’m asking the board to approve a two-hour early dismissal for the last day of school. Otherwise the little people in elementary school get very squirmy on the last day of school. Especially if it is hot!
We are also asking the MMC board to approve the list of 2022 graduates, and also for both boards to approve breakdown insurance for both districts so we can utilize the management fund )vs. the general fund) to fix items that breakdown. This would be especially useful for technology items, but also for HVAC and other items as well.
The athletic directors of both MMCRU and Cherokee have worked on creating an agreement for a joint wrestling program to be called Cherokee/MMCRU Wrestling for the senior high and junior high levels. We will each share a co-head coach and wrestling practices will be held in Cherokee. We need board approval to move forward with this agreement. The Cherokee CSD board is also voting on this agreement tonight.
The governor has not been able to pass her voucher plan because she doesn’t have enough votes in the Iowa House. This is what is holding up the adjournment of the 2022-legislative session. Now, she is seeking to find primary opponents for legislators like Dennis Bush who have opposed vouchers, and is funding campaigns for their opponents through out-of-state political action committees like “American For Prosperity” which is funded by the very wealthy Koch brothers. The governor is supporting opponents of those Republican legislators who have opposed Reynolds’ voucher plan. This is how low our governor is going in her attack on public education. Her voucher plan will hurt MMCRU because we cannot compete with private schools that have not near the same level of restrictions and regulations that we have. Every six students that decide to attend a private school means likely one less teacher in our districts. And it would have a snowball effect, because we would not be able to fund specific programs that currently attract students and parents to MMCRU in an already open enrollment climate. This is exactly what I told the governor in our meeting with her on April 22. She seems to be tone deaf to the existential threat vouchers are to small rural districts like MMCRU. Make sure to vote in the primaries on June 7, and make sure you are aware of the stance of the candidates regarding vouchers when you vote.