Superintendent Barkel reported that in the newly passed SF 391 signed by the governor that allows for Chapter 12 flexibility, the legislature now allows for five days or up to 30 hours of virtual learning. (More on this in Superintendent’s report.)
Public Hearing: Proposed Issuance of RU SAVE Bonds (Up to $2.5 million) had no representatives present.
The Breakdown Insurance was tabled until further information could be provided.
There were Parent-Student Handbook Updates that were corrected or added from the following: Homeless Liason, Unexcused Absences, Ending time for Marcus Elementary, Too Sick for School, Purchasing textbooks to be legal, School Pictures (Photographs are required for use in an annual, ID badges, and for school records); Consequences for plagiarism (Changed consequences to be more natural in nature and puts the emphasis back on completing the learning cycle, not the punishment.); Open Lunch—(Academic Requirements); Cross Country and Wrestling were added to Acceptable Activities; MMCRU Diploma must have 54 credits (All students will be required to take 7 credits per semester.) MMCRU High School does not accept transfer credit from homeschool students. Homeschool transcripts will not be accepted as credit toward a MMCRU High School diploma—(Removed specific elective credits because they change each year and don’t get kept up to date.) All high school dances will be open to MMCRU High School students and their dates under the age of 20.
Beverage Policy was updated as well as Dress Code—(Updated to be more general about headwear and added backpacks to not be worn in the building during the school day. Removed dress code applying to student sections, or they wouldn’t be able to have dress-up days.)
Illegal Items Found in School or in Students’ Possession—(Added specific consequences in line with War Eagle Conference Schools.)
The most discussion of the items changed in the Handbook came from the following: Technology Use in the Classroom. High School—Students are not allowed to be in possession of their cell phone in the classroom once class has begun. Teachers will have a secure designated location for cell phones during class time where students are required to leave their phone while in their classroom. Cellular phones may be used during passing periods, lunch and with permission from the office.
Elementary/Middle School—Cellular phones are prohibited from use during the school day (8:15 a.m.-3:25 p.m.). Cell phones will be placed in a designated classroom/area at the beginning of each school day and can be picked up at the end of the school day. Students are not allowed to keep their cell phones in their locker. If a student needs to contact their parents, they can come to the office and a call will be made.
Laptop computers: Use shall be for educational purposes only and students are subject to having the use checked by instructors or staff. Students found to be using technology in a manner that is not school appropriate will have the privilege removed. Ultimately, the decision for whether or not the item should be used lies with the instructor or staff in charge of the class.
Consequences for misuse of cellular phones: 1. First offense—Items will be turned in to the office. The student may pick it up at the end of that school day. 2. Second offense—Parents will be notified and student will pick up in the office. 3. Third offense—Parents will be notified and required to pick up cell phone. 4. Further consequences may be determined by administration.
The Parent-Student Handbook updates were approved by MMC Board members.
Engagement Letter-(Bond Counsel) item on the agenda: Ahlers & Cooney Law Firm was approved as Bond Council for securing SAVE bonds.
The Milk bid from Prairie Farms was approved and the Bread bid from Casey’s Bakery was also approved.
The resignation of Donna Bolton (TK Para) was approved as she has accepted a Special Education assistant position at Le Mars Community School. Tyler Rueter was approved as a full time school bus driver.
The purchase of Fireproof File Cabinets was approved.
It was approved for the purchase of new varsity girls’ basketball uniforms. (The Booster Club will pay half and the girls will raise the rest from fund drives, etc.)
The last two items on the agenda were sale of school vehicles and issuance of SAVE Bonds and were both RU items.
MMCRU Middle School/Remsen Elementary Principal Toby Young reported the following: the 2022-2023 school year has officially come to an end and we’re currently in summer mode getting the school ready for the upcoming year. We still have a handful of openings that need filled for the upcoming year and I’m confident those positions will be filled or we will make it work to best meet the needs of our district. The first day of school will be Wednesday, August 23.
Congratulations to 70% of our middle school students who attained honor roll status for 2nd semester,
Projected Class Numbers for 2023-2024 School Year are as follows:
PS (Pre School) 23 with 2 sections. TK has 10; Kindergarten has 14; First Grade has 24; Second Grade has 22; Third Grade has 14; Fourth Grade has 20.
Middle School—Grade 5 has 55; Grade 6 has 35; Grade 7 has 35 and Grade 8 has 49.
Remsen Elementary will have 127 students for 2023-2024 (there were 139 students for 2022-2023 school year) Middle School will have 174 students (there were 169 students for 2022-2023 school year)
Elementary/Middle School News: Extended School Year—9 students (Marcus and Remsen combined)
Summer Reading and Math Program begins June 19 (K-2—with 14 students and Grades 3-4—with six students).
State Report—SRI and Spring BEDS—Both have been submitted and certified.
2023-2024 School Registration is July 25 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and July 26 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Online Registration is also available)
Job Openings for 2023-2024 at Remsen Site include JH (Junior High) Wrestling Coach. Middle School Student Council Sponsor is needed. Four Paraprofessionals are needed. Also needed are Substitute Teachers and Paraprofessionals.
Brandon Weiser, MMCRU-Marcus Principal reported the following: In Marcus the school year ended and moving the office and north hallway went smoothly for construction to begin. I owe a great deal of gratitude to our staff and some students for helping move quickly.
High School grades were submitted and sent to students and parents at the end of the semester. 10 students earned Principal’s Honor Roll (4.0) recognition, 69 earned High Honor Roll (3.5 and higher) recognition, and 50 earned Honor Roll (3.0 and higher) recognition for 2nd semester. There were 65.2% of high school students who attained some honor roll status during the 2nd semester.
Spring state reporting has been completed and certified with the state. Upcoming in August will be Graduation Verification and Fall Supplemental Weighting.
In our elementary, I have met with our PBIS (Positive Behavioral & Supports) (SEBH) team to lay some groundwork for the upcoming school year. We came up with some common expectations for the classroom, hallway, commons, recess, and the bus. Posters have been printed and will be displayed around those locations and some specific teaching will take place. Over the next school year, our team will go through some training sessions at the AEA to continue building these processes.
Mrs. Youde has finished summer school with 5 students working to recover coursework needed for graduation. In total those 5 students recovered 10 credits towards graduation. ESY (Extended School Year) is being run this year by Mrs. Roling and Ms. Bird in Remsen with 10 students attending this summer. Our elementary will begin summer reading and math in July. Mrs. Nieuwenhuis and Mr. Stubbs will be running that in Marcus. We have 23 students who have signed up for extra help this summer.
Baseball and Softball are in the middle of their seasons now and the weather has been mostly cooperative to keep games going as scheduled. Summer weightlifting has a lot of momentum to start the summer. As of last Monday, we had 50 boys and 40 girls during their scheduled weightlifting sessions.
Tentative 2023-2024 Class Sizes are the following: PK will have 22 students; TK will have 9 students; Kindergarten will have 26; First Grade will have 30 students; Grade Two will have 20; Grade Three will have 27 students and Grade 4 will have 36 students. Total for Elementary is 170 students.
Middle School Tentative 2023-2024 Class Sizes are the following: Grade 9 will have 56 students; Grade 10 will have 51 students; Grade 11 will have 49 (1 Alternative School) and Grade 12 will have 46 (2 Alternative School). Total number of High School Students for 2023-2024 is 205. There are 375 students TOTAL at Marcus Site.
Current Openings in Marcus include Hugh School Assistant Wrestling Coach; Elementary Paraprofessionals; Long-term sub for High School Special Education (end of September) and Substitute Teachers and Paraprofessionals.
Superintendent Dan Barkel reported the following: We are still feeling very fortunate with the retention of our staff for the upcoming school year. With the tightening of the teacher labor market, we hold our breath since the BOEE will not sanction teachers who break contracts until the end of June. We filled our head custodial position at MMC but still have assistant custodial positions to fill at that location; and also many para positions that will need to be filled for the upcoming year in both districts. Let me know if you know of someone who may be interested in any open positions for Custodial, Paras, Substitute Bus drivers.
On tonight’s agenda will be the renewal for breakdown insurance for both districts, and also the annual milk/bread bids to approve.
Work on the Marcus facility continues to move swiftly this past month, especially in the high school area, which is the priority area since it needs to be functional at the beginning of the next school year. Much work has been done in the high school. Everything appears to be on schedule. We are still planning to move into the new Marcus Elementary School around October 1. Work on the HVAC project is coming along nicely in the RU building.
Tonight both boards need to approve the engagement letter with Ahlers and Cooney to provide bond counsel for the SAVE bonds needed to complete the building project at MMC and to also finish the HVAC project at RU and also the building improvements we hope to accomplish in the summer of 2024.
There are two items on the agenda that require board approval from the MMC board because each item exceeds the $5000 limit on what can be approved by the superintendent. One is for girls basketball uniforms, and the other is for new fireproof cabinets to house student transcripts in the new office area.
Tonight our building principals will propose modifications to the MMCRU Parent-Student Handbook. Most of the changes are done in an effort to improve the learning environment for students in all of our buildings.
Beginning in July, the boards will need to begin the discussion of new goals for the upcoming year. I encourage you to begin thinking about goals so we can continue to move our districts forward.
Kevin Felts and I attended a cybersecurity summit at the new Northwest AEA building next to the Sioux City airport on June 12. Cybersecurity is an increasingly important issue since we have become ever more dependent on the internet for everything we do in school. For two weeks the past month we had no e-mail access, and it was only restored by the efforts of an aide of Senator Ernst who helped us contact Google to restore our status. Crisis averted, for now, but we need to be vigilant to help prevent issues in the future.
In the newly passed SF 391 signed by the governor that allows for Chapter 12 flexibility, the legislature now allows for five days or up to 30 hours of virtual learning. This will allow us to use virtual learning for snow days. So, we may be taking advantage of this change in the law in the upcoming school year.
The MMC District Board of Directors met in regular joint session with R-U District Board of Directors on Monday, June 19, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. at Remsen-Union Media Center.
Remsen-Union Board members present were: Loutsch, Harpenau, Tentinger, and Penning. Absent: Krier
MMC Board members present were: Leavitt, Staab, Prunty, Olson, and Dreckman. Dreckman left at 7 o’clock p.m.